Ms. Buchenholtz said she is most concerned about where the homeless families will go if the landlords abandon the program.

A derelict landlord virtually abandoned the building after a fire gutted several apartments in 1974.

City officials also worried that many landlords would abandon their buildings when faced with that cost.

And on streets throughout Crotona, landlords abandoned apartment buildings.

The higher rent increases are necessary to insure that those landlords do not simply abandon their buildings, she said.

When ownership costs skyrocketed, as they did during the 1970's oil crises, we watched other landlords simply abandon hundreds of buildings.

The landlord abandoned her building around 1970.

Today, landlords in declining areas just abandon their buildings.

Today, although landlords have abandoned their demands of $150 or $175 a foot, retail space in the neighborhood can still command $100 a foot.

Mr. Berkey said landlords must abandon their own lease forms to work with these agencies.