CT residents’ struggle to use housing vouchers
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by
plantbae
Yvette Tyson looks at apartment listings. Tyson has struggled to find a new place where she can use a voucher she has from the Stamford Housing Authority. In the background are Tyson’s belongings packed in boxes on the floor of her apartment.
Jacqueline Rabe Thomas/Hearst Connecticut Media Group
Across Connecticut, thousands of government-subsidized affordable housing vouchers have gone unused in recent years, a Hearst Connecticut Media Group investigation found.
Residents who’ve won lotteries for the vouchers, in some cases after waiting years, often find themselves mired in government red-tape and restrictions.
The problem has worsened since the pandemic, with many voucher recipients finding themselves outmatched as they compete in a red hot housing market.
Last fall, Anju Freeman thought she finally had a way out of her apartment in New Britain. Living there had become unbearable.
After more than two years on a waiting list, Freeman received a government-subsidized voucher to help cover the cost of renting a new place.
But, like many other voucher recipients, Freeman faced challenges finding a unit where she could use her voucher. It expired in September, unused.
Freeman, still in her New Britain apartment, is back on waiting lists to try to get another voucher.
“I want to give up so badly sometimes, but I just can’t,” Freeman said. “Nobody understands.”
The federally-funded Section 8 vouchers are awarded by local housing authorities through a lottery system to low-income individuals and families.
The one Freeman received, from the Bristol Housing Authority, initially gave her two months to find an eligible unit within Bristol, Southington, Plainville or Terryville.
Freeman, who is disabled, needed to find a first-floor or accessible apartment.
“You have to do it all on your own,” Freeman said. “And that’s the hard part because you have no idea which places accept Section 8 and which don’t. And with the economy nowadays, it’s just very hard because all the prices are going up.”
After trying unsuccessfully for two months, the housing authority granted Freeman a 30-day extension. Freeman started working with a realtor in hopes of having more luck.
Many listings her realtor sent her were second-floor units, which she considered but none worked. She applied to some.
“But landlords are so picky nowadays,” Freeman said. “Half of them that I looked at, they already chose someone else.”
Freeman said she felt some landlords discriminated against her because they were skeptical about renting to someone with a voucher.
The cycle continued. Freeman received six more 30-day extensions before her voucher expired on September 14.
Just 18 percent of those who got a voucher from Bristol Housing Authority in 2021 were able to find a home to lease.
