Since 1970, a significant portion of the neighborhood's building stock has been owned by absentee landlords who often rent to subsidized tenants through Section 8 and similar programs.

The resulting units are rented to subsidized low-income tenants.

Under the Section 8 certificate program, the apartment would not have been available to subsidized tenants, because the rent limit is $671 for a three-bedroom apartment.

Typically, the difference in rent between the market-rate and the subsidized tenant is only $50 to $75 a month, Mr. Wine says.

And it has proposed giving incentives to housing agencies that shrink the rolls of subsidized tenants.

Judge Sand ruled on June 17 that the city's reliance on existing cooperatives was unrealistic because cooperative boards are generally reluctant to take subsidized tenants.

City officials said they would not try to place subsidized tenants in more than 4 percent of the apartments in any single building.

Many subsidized tenants have remained in the complex, she added, receiving rental subsidies under Section 8 that are still available even though the ownership of their complex has changed.

Of the 53 units, 11 are set aside for subsidized tenants under section 8 of the Federal housing guidelines.

"The attitude for years has been you'd have to be crazy to take subsidized tenants, because of all the problems associated with it," Mr. Strasburg said.