How landlords thwart America’s attempts to house poor people

“WHY THE fuck does this county even offer Section 8 if it’s a mythical unicorn that nobody ever gets?” asks Alex, the main character in Netflix’s new series “Maid”. The show, based on Stephanie Land’s book “Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive”, is a portrait of poverty and domestic work in Washington State. Section 8, now known as the Housing Choice Voucher Programme (HCVP), is a federal housing-assistance scheme that subsidises rent for 2.3m poor American households lucky enough to get their hands on a voucher. Others can spend years on waiting lists, hoping to be chosen.

Housing-policy wonks often refer to the voucher programme as a kind of lottery: win and your life may fundamentally change. When towering public-housing projects were demolished in the 1990s, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) used vouchers as a way to house America’s poor through the private market. With a voucher, tenants put 30% of their monthly income towards rent and the federal government covers the rest. Many people on voucher waiting lists are homeless or living with their families. Nearly half of all voucher-holders are black, 70% are racial minorities and about a third earn less than $10,000 a year.