Developers are abandoning the federal programs that helped build those apartments, and they're no longer bound by decades-old agreements that offered financial incentives in exchange for keeping rents low for poor families and the elderly.
Many developers are now free to raise rents and lease to anyone they please.
Here, where housing is among the most expensive in the nation, the rents in some subsidized apartments could triple. The prospect of being displaced as rents rise is unsettling enough for struggling families, but it's even more frightening for seniors who live on fixed incomes. The Shreberks and their neighbors at the 156-unit complex all will receive government rent vouchers so they can stay in their homes, but those vouchers are good for only one year. After that, there are no guarantees. The problem has been brewing for years.