The construction of the 13 projects will bring to 13,000 the number of low-income rentals built in the state, thanks mainly to the tax-credit program, which began in 1987.

The sales market for condominiums in older moderate-income neighborhoods is limited, and what Federal subsidies are available to the cost can usually be used only for low-income rentals.

Overtaxation of low-income private rentals also feeds the tax-foreclosure pipeline.

The $13 million in Federal housing tax credits allocated to the state for low-income rentals was crucial.

They completed the project using private mortgage money, state financing and tax credits for putting up low-income rental and elderly housing.

The Settlement Housing Fund, a nonprofit developer mainly associated with large-scale low-income rentals, was the developer.

Critics have also said the law encouraged construction of moderately priced single-family homes for those who could qualify for mortgages to the exclusion of low-income rentals.

"There is a very large waiting list for affordable low-income rentals," said Peter Elkowitz, the president of the Long Island Housing Partnership.

Even doubled, the housing budget would not produce many new low-income rentals.

The tax-credit program, operating independently of the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, is, interestingly, the only national program for producing low-income rentals.