"We are going to choke the Section 8 program into submission so that it stops killing our neighborhoods," Street said during a campaign appearance in Mayfair.

Although federally funded and governed, the program is administered locally by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Until quitting as City Council president in December to run for mayor, Street was vice chairman of the PHA.

Yesterday, he tried to blame problems in the program on federal regulations and on John White Jr.

White, until late 1997 the authority's executive director, ran against Street in the spring Democratic primary for mayor. He is now backing Sam Katz, Street's Republican opponent.

Street said that Carl Greene, White's successor at PHA, whom he called "a true housing professional," was now working to deal with problems that Street and Mayor Rendell had asked White to address.

"John White Jr. was the executive director of Philadelphia Housing Authority for four years," Street said. " ... We had many meetings and talked about it. And we suggested that there should be things that are done. And John White Jr. was responsible for administering the affairs of that program."

White could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Street made his remarks at a news conference, where 19 days before the election, he received the endorsement of 16 of his party's ward leaders in the Northeast.

The conference, which was disrupted by a heckler who booed Street, was held on a plaza at Cottman and Frankford Avenues in the Mayfair retail district.

The Section 8 program is aimed at getting poor people off the streets and out of high-rise housing projects by giving them vouchers to use in renting any reasonably priced house or apartment they can find.

About 40,000 of Philadelphia's 1.4 million people - including more than 12,000 families - are in the program.

In the Northeast and elsewhere, homeowners have complained that Section 8 tenants often are loud, untidy, apt to bring drugs into an area and prone to leaving their children unattended.

The landlords, Section 8 opponents say, are often absentees and speculators who have little stake in the neighborhood.

Opposition to the program is racially tinged in the Northeast, which makes up one-third of the city, because tenants are often minorities, and neighboring homeowners are often white.

But Street said: "I will tell you, it is not just a Northeast community issue. It is a problem in neighborhoods throughout this city.

"We are going to resolve the Section 8 program and the problems of Section 8 in this city," Street said to applause from the ward leaders and other Democratic officials.

"Those unruly tenants, those landlords who neglect their responsibility, are going to be dealt with in a very serious and forthright and direct way," Street said. "We are going to take care of them."

Some Section 8 reforms have been made in recent months. A rule that gave preference to the homeless has been revised. The PHA is now checking for criminal records on the part of housing applicants. New tenants are required to attend training seminars.

Bob Barnett, Katz's campaign director, said later yesterday that Street could not escape responsibility for Section 8 problems.

"John Street was John White's boss. His attitude is that he was a full partner with the Rendell administration in anything that people are happy about. But anything they complain about, he has no responsibility," Barnett said.

In recent years, Republicans in the Northeast have used Section 8 controversy as a political weapon against Democratic candidates. U.S. Rep. Robert A. Borski, as a federal official, was pummeled last year during his successful bid for reelection.

With White supporting Katz, the Democrats are now trying to turn the tables.

State Rep. Michael McGeehan, the leader of the Northeast Democratic ward leaders, said yesterday: "In Northeast Philadelphia, the mishandling of the Section 8 program by the last director is, I think, plainly evident for all to see."

McGeehan noted that, in the primary, all of the ward leaders who stood with Street yesterday had backed Marty Weinberg. He said the ward leaders now intend to work "just as hard" for Street.

Edward Turzanski, a political science professor at La Salle University who lives in the Far Notheast, said in an interview yesterday that Section 8 was "a very emotional issue" in middle-class neighborhoods all over the city.

Homeowners, he said, "don't mind the government giving somebody a helping hand." They do object, he said, when they think a program "is pulling down the value" of their own property.

Louis M. Iatarola, vice president of the Tacony Civic Association, said yesterday: "Without a doubt, Section 8 is a huge problem. ... Every time you hear city politicians talk about it, they continue to pass on the buck to somebody else."