Sometimes even identity thieves are the recipients of manna. This week it came in the form of New York City’s public housing residents’ confidential files found blowing through the streets of East New York.

The files contained enough information about the residents to make stealing their identities easy for even the greenest or laziest of thieves: names, addresses, Social Security numbers (even those of dependent children), birth dates, phone numbers, income affidavits, court orders, lease agreements and records of payment were among the files left there for the taking.

And take it they did. “I’ve seen people picking them up off the ground and putting them in their pockets,” said one witness.

New York Housing Authority officials don’t know how the files got there, but they stated that the agency shreds any documents containing residents’ confidential information before it’s disposed of.

“The incident is being investigated and appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken against the individuals responsible,” said agency spokeswoman Sheila Greene.

Greene also said that the residents will be alerted to the situation and provided with information about how to protect their personal information. (Really? Isn’t that like being told how to care for your new prosthetic limb by the doctor who mistakenly amputated your leg?)

In case you’re thinking the payoff for stealing the identities of people poor enough to live in public housing isn’t worth the trouble, consider Laura Bustamante, a Utah state employee who stole the identities of applicants for food stamps and Medicaid benefits and netted $70,000 within four months. She was sentenced this week to three years in federal prison.