PLAY YACHT SEE
A City Council candidate who lives in Section 8 housing for lowincome residents had online photos scrubbed ahead of Tuesday’s primary that showed her husband sailing on his wealthy father’s yacht.
The now-phantom Facebook photos showed Community Board 3 Chairman James Rogers, a former lawyer who is married to Lower East Side council hopeful Carlina Rivera, racing in local boating competitions with his dad, William Rogers.
William Rogers is a retired corporate lawyer who oversaw deals and acquisitions involving sums as high as $100 billion, according to his company bio.
Online posts show the younger Rogers served as a crew member on the yacht dubbed Big Boat in 2013, 2015 and as recently as May.
Rivera has faced questions about her eligibility for Section 8 housing — including in a recent Post story by Richard Johnson — given her former salary as a council staffer and her husband’s various assets.
The Post has now learned those assets include her husband James’ ownership of an apartment on the Lower East Side.
“So he’s a landlord on Section 8?” said Jorge de Yarza, a longtime Lower East Side resident who has questioned Rivera’s living arrangement in a subsidized apartment on Stanton Street. “This is nuts. Morally, there’s an issue there if you have access to those kinds of funds.”
Rivera earned a $52,000 salary last year as an aide to Council member Rosie Mendez, whose term-limited seat she’s vying for in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Her husband co-owns a growing coffee business, and owns a Grand Street apartment, which he rents out, and a small family trust.
But the couple lives in federally subsidized housing that Rivera qualified for years ago, and which doesn’t force out tenants whose incomes have surpassed the initial eligibility rate.
Qualifying income is now at $61,050 for a two-person household, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The duo will continue to qualify for a federal subsidy until their combined income hits $111,000 — at which point they’d pay market rate of $2,774 with no taxpayer subsidies for as long as they choose to remain.
Rivera has said the couple would leave if she wins the council seat, which comes with a salary of $148,500.
“It’s sad to see last-minute, Trump-style mudslinging attacking a qualified female candidate by going after her husband,” Rivera campaign spokesman Matt Rey said.
HUD spokesman Charles McNally said Section 8 tenants are allowed to own other residential units, but they have to report any rent they earn as income.