The affordable housing waiting game

The city of Oakland has about 5,000 properties in foreclosure. Every one has a story.

ROSA FERNANDEZ: I used to come home, cook dinner, go to my room, lock my door, and I used to cry. Every night, every night.

But many of the city’s other residents can’t afford a home, even with help. Oakland’s Housing Authority estimates that half of the city's residents could qualify for housing aid programs like Section 8. That’s right. Half the residents of Oakland.

ERIC JOHNSON: There's so many families that would be eligible, and in the crisis we're going through more people have become eligible.

Recently, Oakland’s Housing Authority opened the waitlist for a special type of Section 8 vouchers for the first time in five years. These coveted vouchers allow renters to find apartments in the private market. Tenants put 30% of their income toward rent, and the Housing Authority makes up the difference using federal funds.

More than 55,000 people applied for just 10,000 vouchers. KALW Bridget Huber spoke with people in Oakland hoping to be one of those selected in the affordable housing lottery-style selection process.

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BRIDGET HUBER: It's 10 a.m. The Oakland Public Library has just opened, and it’s a lot louder than usual. About 50 people are waiting in line, but most of them aren't here for books. They're here to try and get a Section 8 affordable housing voucher.

HOUSING AUTHORITY STAFF: Hi. Can I take the next person in line?

The people in line are pretty representative of who struggles most to afford a place to live. For example, there’s Gabrielle Mota, who lives with her four kids in a two-room apartment.

GABRIELLE MOTA (translated from Spanish): It’s a two-room apartment and I pay a lot of rent.

HUBER: How much?

MOTA: $1,000 a month. That’s a lot for me.

Like Mota, almost half of the people who need affordable housing are families with children. Another fifth are seniors, like Jimmy King. He’s standing a few people behind Mota in line.

JIMMY KING: I was disabled in the military. I’m just trying to get an apartment – and maybe a nice gal.

There’s no voucher for that, though. King says he’s living in subsidized housing while he recovers from an injury. But he can't stay there forever, and he says a Section 8 voucher would give him choices.

KING: I'd care to move on and have options. If I can have more options, it's like money, sweetheart. If you have a little bit of it, you want more.

About 10 feet behind King is Ricky Williams. He's not a senior, and he doesn't have a family, but he is disabled – like another third of the Americans who most need a place to live.

RICKY WILLIAMS: It’s kinda harsh right now

It’s been 10 years since Williams has had his own place. He’s been crashing with friends and family, but like Jimmy King, he needs to move on.

WILLIAMS: Well, you know, I stay with somebody else. With general assistance and everything, money kinda short. People be wanting they money. So you know how it is.  It’s hard out there right now.

Times are hard for many Bay Area residents. For starters, just living in the western U.S. is a disadvantage – housing is more expensive here than in the rest of the country, and there are fewer affordable housing programs. In Oakland, the number of people vying for Section 8 vouchers outnumbers the available spots more than five to one.

ERIC JOHNSON: The demand this morning was overwhelming.

That's Eric Johnson, Executive Director of the Oakland Housing Authority. He's been milling around the crowded library computer room all morning, chatting with reporters and people waiting in line. He says that when the online waitlist opened this morning, the website was immediately flooded. Users got error messages as the agency scrambled to handle the crush.

They got it all sorted out, but Johnson says the tech meltdown just goes to show how great the need really is.

JOHNSON: There's so many families that would be eligible, and in the crisis we're going through, more people have become eligible. But even before that we had not enough federal funding to meet the need.

That situation probably won’t change any time soon. In fact, it could get worse. In early February House Republicans proposed billions of dollars in cuts to HUD’s programs.

But none of that will keep Ricky Williams from hoping – or praying, he tells me, as he pages through a worn blue bible.

HOUSING APPLICANT: We’ve been waiting over an hour!

By 11 a.m., the people in line are starting to get restless. It’s taking most of them about an hour to get through. Williams reaches the head of the line around 11:15.

WILLIAMS: I feel good ... I think there's a good chance. Mmmhmm. I'm gonna need some assistance, though.

Ricky sits down a computer with a housing authority worker and starts filling out the form.

WILLIAMS: What's your name? Ricky. R-i-c-k-e-y? No, R-i-c-k-y.

She asks him a few questions. And in just a few minutes, they're done.

HOUSING AUTHORITY STAFF: Basically, it's gonna still be a lottery. Okay? If your number is selected, then you'll be contacted by mail. Okay, this is your confirmation number.

As he walks out of the library, holding his lottery number, Williams is feeling good. But he’s more likely to be one of 44,000 hopeful people who aren’t chosen than one of the 10,000 who are.

Despite the bad odds, the Housing Authority's Eric Johnson says people shouldn’t give up.

JOHNSON: I'm telling everybody, apply everywhere at every list that opens everywhere. And we hope you get that letter saying you were one of the 10,000 that was chosen. But if not, just keep getting out there on the Internet and figure out who's opening lists and apply.

But if Ricky's prayers come true and he does win that lottery, he’ll finally have a home to call his own.

For Crosscurrents, I'm Bridget Huber.

Bridget Huber is a reporter at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Do you live in Section 8 housing? What challenges have you faced in finding a home? Let us know on our Facebook page.