More than 3,000 of the city’s poorest families face a cruel Christmas because Section 8 vouchers they were given to find apartments are being abruptly yanked under a budget squeeze, officials said yesterday.

The unprecedented move elicited howls of protest from advocates for the poor.

“Oh, my God!” exclaimed Patrick Markee of the Coalition for the Homeless. “This is really upsetting.”

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer demanded the resignation of the Housing Authority board, except for Chairman John Rhea, who began a couple of months ago, “so we can begin to mend the damage they’ve done.”

More than half of the 3,018 families now holding worthless pieces of paper were formerly homeless.

“It’s a difficult but unavoidable decision,” Rhea said.

He said a “perfect storm” of events left the city with no choice but to pull back the coveted vouchers, even to 918 families that had already identified private apartments to rent and were waiting to complete the paperwork to “turn on” their subsidies, which average $800 a month.