For Many Tenants, Section 8 Is A Broken Promise. Can It Be Fixed?

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2022

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Millions of people are evicted each year, often because they can't pay rent. That causes a cascade of problems and makes it harder for many to get back on their feet. The KQED podcast Sold Out: Rethinking Housing In America has produced a special series on evictions in the Bay Area. Today we present an excerpt of their work that looks at the history, promise and drawbacks of the biggest rental assistance subsidy available to low-income people -- Section 8. Additional Reading: For Many Tenants Section 8 Is A Broken Promise. Fixing It Could Help Keep More People Housed SOLD OUT Podcast Reported by Molly Solomon and Erin Baldassari. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Sebastian Miño-Bucheli and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Erika Kelly, Kyana Moghadam, Jessica Placzek, Jen Chien, Natalia Aldana, Carly Severn, Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Jenny Pritchett.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:03.0	Hi everyone, I'm Olivia Allen Price and you're listening to Bay Curious.
0:08.0	In the days and weeks after coronavirus took cold in 2020, the economy ground to a halt.
0:15.0	And it quickly became clear that a lot of people in the Bay Area wouldn't be able to pay rent. I don't know what to do after that without jobs, without income.
0:28.0	If folks couldn't pay rent, they'd get evicted, maybe become homeless,
0:33.0	and they'd definitely be more vulnerable
0:34.8	to contracting coronavirus.
0:37.4	If tens of thousands of folks are forced from their homes,
0:40.8	COVID will be much more likely to spread and have devastating consequences.
0:46.0	States, local governments, even the CDC knew they had to do something.
0:51.0	If we don't act now, there'll be a wave of evictions
0:55.4	and foreclosures in the coming months.
0:57.6	Here in California, Governor Gavin Newsom
1:00.0	announced a moratorium on all evictions.
1:03.0	Through May 31st, there will be no eviction proceedings.
1:07.8	And Congress handed out nearly $50 billion to help people catch up on missed rent. But those pandemic protections are
1:15.2	expiring and now more than two years later many tenants still can't pay.
1:20.2	Evictions are on the rise.
1:26.0	You might be left wondering how we got here and what we can do about it.
1:31.2	Those are some of the central questions our KQED colleagues set out to
1:34.4	answer in the second season of the podcast, sold out, rethinking housing in America.
1:39.9	I listened to this entire series all the way through last weekend and I learned so much.
	...

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