The cash-starved New York City Housing Authority is weighing cuts to programs at a number of senior centers citywide, including the Marble Hill Senior Center on Broadway.

By N. Clark Judd

The fate of the Marble Hill Senior Center is uncertain.

That's a result of the New York City Housing Authority's plan to eliminate community and senior centers across all city-owned public housing complexes.

In testimony before the City Council on May 29, Housing Authority Chairman Tino Hernandez said that, faced with a tight budget year and steadily dwindling federal funding, he would likely slash all city-funded senior centers in public housing, whether operated by the Housing Authority or by the city Department for the Aging.

Some are skeptical about whether the city really means business, but experts agree that the city's bleak budget year is aggravating a situation that's already dire because of a longtime dearth of federal funding.

Marble Hill's senior center is operated by Mosholu Montefiore Community Center with funding from the Department for the Aging. Don Bluestone, Mosholu Montefiore's executive director, said the worst he anticipates is that the city will cease to pay the center's rent.

"The issue is that the Housing Authority has no money," he said. "They're trying to put the problem back on the city, and it's a game to play. They're trying to play Russian roulette and trying to see if the city will blink and give them more money."

With a steadily declining trickle of federal funding, and the city's limited ability to help, Jerilyn Perine, executive director of Citizens Housing and Planning Council, a housing policy think-tank, believes Mr. Hernandez's decisions are more Sophie's Choice than Russian roulette.

Congress has not been meeting the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's expected funding needs in recent years, Ms. Perine said.

Additionally, beginning this calendar year and occurring gradually over the next five years, HUD expects to reduce the Housing Authority's annual subsidy by $60 million.