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Division of Housing & Community Renewal

Office of Housing Operations

The Office of Housing Operations consists of the Housing Management, Housing Audits & Accounts, and Architecture & Engineering Bureaus. These Bureaus supervise DHCR's portfolio of developments built under the Mitchell-Lama, Limited Dividend, Public Housing, Housing Trust Fund, Turnkey and Low-Income Housing Credit programs. In addition to its regulatory functions, Housing Operations also is responsible for administration of the HUD Section 8 Program, which provides rental assistance to very low-income families across the State.

General Information:

Bureaus & Units

Architecture and Engineering (A&E)

Architecture and Engineering (A&E) is responsible for the construction, maintenance and preservation of State-aided developments. A&E reviews plans and specifications for all State-assisted housing developments to ensure acceptability with regard to design and construction standards. A&E also performs inspections and provides technical assistance to the housing developments.

Housing Audits and Accounts (HA&A)

Housing Audits and Accounts (HA&A) is responsible for the financial oversight of all State-assisted housing developments in DHCR's portfolio. Among HA&A's primary activities are the review and approval of housing company budgets and the establishing of appropriate rent levels for Mitchell-Lama developments. The Bureau also maintains the books of account and related financial records of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program as is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Housing Management

The Housing Management Bureau monitors the operations of the State-assisted housing portfolio by providing management assistance to managers and owners of State-assisted housing, publicizing standards and guidelines governing the operations of the developments, and enforcing Division policies, rules and regulations. The Bureau also administers federally- and State-funded grant and loan programs for these developments, including Public Housing Modernization, HEAP, Flexible Subsidy, Tenant Health and Safety, and the Project Improvement Program.

Section 8 Program

Statewide Section 8 Program

DHCR's Statewide Section 8 Program provides tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher assistance to eligible extremely low-income (30 percent of median income), very low-income (50 percent of median income) and low-income (80 percent of median income) families living in the State of New York.

Local Administrators (LAs) sub-contracted by DHCR provide program services on the local level in 50 New York Counties. These LAs help provide rental assistance to more than 34,000 families across New York State.

DHCR's Statewide Section 8 Program also includes the Housing Choice Voucher Home Ownership Program, which enables current eligible rental participants to use their voucher subsidy toward a mortgage payment. Since the year 2000, this program has successfully assisted 260 families in 38 NYS counties to achieve home ownership.

The Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program is administered in over 34 counties throughout New York State and assists low-income families in achieving self-sufficiency and attaining economic stability. The FSS Program has a current enrollment of almost 2,000 families and has graduated over 1,700 families since 1998. With the implementation of the Assets for Independence Program (AFI), FSS families whose goal is home ownership, can receive matched savings which can be used towards the purchase of their new home. Housing support initiatives, such as FSS and the Family Unification Program (FUP), are also part of DHCR's Statewide Section 8 Program administration.

For more information, contact the Statewide Section 8 Program.

Subsidy Services Bureau

In July of 1987, DHCR entered into an agreement with HUD to directly administer Section 8 in the five boroughs of New York City. DHCR administers this program through its Subsidy Services Bureau which assists over 7,100 families.

Approximately 44 percent of the households assisted by this Program are senior citizens or disabled people on fixed incomes. Subsidy Services has also successfully assisted in placing more than 1,000 homeless families into permanent housing.

For more information, contact Subsidy Services.

Project-Based Contract Administration

On May 10, 2000, DHCR and the NYS Housing Trust Fund Corporation (HTFC) were jointly designated by HUD as Contract Administrator for the Section 8 Project-Based portfolio in New York State.

As the HUD-designated Contract Administrator for New York State, DHCR/HTFC is directly responsible to HUD for all program functions and reporting requirements, provides general program oversight and input on policy development and performs a quality assurance function for all assigned tasks.

Day-to-day functions involved in this program initiative include conducting management and occupancy reviews, adjusting contract rents, paying monthly Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) vouchers to project owners, processing HAP Contract renewals, terminations and/or opt-outs and for responding to health and safety issues.

These functions are carried out by and through a contract with a Private Sector Partner (PSP). Pursuant to a competitive procurement process, CGI-AMS Inc. was selected as the PSP effective December 1, 2005.

On December 1, 2000, HUD made an initial assignment of contracts to DHCR/ HTFC for 609 contracts covering more than 49,000 units. Since that time, HUD has assigned additional contracts bringing the current total project-based portfolio to nearly 996 contracts covering approximately 96,450 units. Annual Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) for the current portfolio is approximately $990 million.

Of the total Statewide Project-Based portfolio, 71 percent of the units are in the metropolitan New York area. The rental market areas in and around Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany account for an additional 17 percent of the Statewide portfolio.

For more information on the Project-Based Initiative, contact Section 8 Project-Based Contract Administration Unit.

Last updated on 05/07/10