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Reports that the U.S. President George W. Bush administration has proposed reducing the value of subsidized-housing vouchers given to poor New York City residents in 2005, with even bigger cuts planned for some urban New England areas. How the proposal is based on a disputed new formula; Potential impact on poor families, who will be forced to pay hundreds of extra dollars per month in rent; Overview of the Section 8 program, which will be affected; Rationale for changing the Section 8 program, according to the housing secretary, Alphonso Jackson; Issue of fair market rents; Observation of some housing groups that many predominantly Democratic states, including New York and Massachusetts, fare poorly under the new proposals, while Republican states tend to benefit; Outlook.

Focuses on the first wave of benefit expirations under the 1996 federal law that altered welfare in the United States. Insistence of city officials in New York City that safety-net assistance in the form of work programs and state aid for needy families facing time limits would be available; Details of the efforts of Barbara Carson, a 63-year-old woman raising her five grandchildren, to find employment.

Reports that a federal judge barred New York City officials from expanding their new welfare policies until they can guarantee access to food stamps and Medicaid applications. Concern that the city is overlooking the needs of the poor in its zeal to reform welfare; City prevented from converting welfare offices into job centers; Ruling by Judge William H. Pauley 3d; Assertion that city workers violated federal laws when dealing with the poor.