Posted on June 29, 2017 by Nathan Tempey in Gothamist Gothamist, By Nathan Tempey As many as 3,000 rent-stabilized apartments could be deregulated as the city phases out the notoriously dysfunctional cluster site homeless shelter program. Created in 2000 as a stopgap measure, the cluster program places homeless families in private apartments, but as shelter residents, not tenants. As the program grew to include over 300 buildings and over 3,000 apartments, the city increased the rates it paid landlords and nonprofits, even as the buildings deteriorated and social services were slow in coming.