Inside the conundrum of LA’s Section 8 housing

Maria Lerma says she and her mother were forced to move out of their Boyle Heights home by a landlord who wanted to raise the rent.

There is a program out there that’s supposed to help people who can’t afford homes. KPCC’s Rina Palta reports it’s not working so well.

Southern California is in a housing crisis. Rents here are the most unaffordable in the nation and there are tens of thousands of homeless.

There is a program out there that’s supposed to help people who can’t afford homes - Section 8. Through a public system of vouchers, participants in the Section 8 program are afforded the opportunity to gain subsidized access to rental housing.

Yet the system has a number of systemic issues. For the recipients of the vouchers, finding a place that will accept the voucher has become increasingly hard to find as vacancy rates are at a low. For landlords, accepting a resident through Section 8 can be a risky proposition.

Read the full story.

Guests:

Rina Palta, KPCC reporter covering southern California’s social safety net

Dan Faller, founder and president of the Apartment Owners Association of Southern California, one of the largest, independently run groups of landlords in the state, with over 20,000 members

Carlos VanNatter, director of the Section 8 program at the Housing Authority of Los Angeles