A Homeless Student’s Search Sheds Light on L.A. Housing Challenges

When I first met Jacqueline Benitez, a homeless community college student, she was thrilled to learn that she had just been approved for a housing voucher, commonly known as Section 8.

It was August, and she was living in a housing development exclusively for homeless students who attended Cerritos College in Norwalk. But Benitez, 21, planned to transfer to a university, which would make her ineligible for the townhouse she shared with three roommates.

Jovenes, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles, was able to give Benitez one of its housing vouchers earmarked for young adults experiencing homelessness.

It was an enormous advantage, especially since Los Angeles County’s housing authority has about 33,000 families or individuals on its wait list and has not taken additional applicants since 2009. And it meant that Benitez, who worked part time at a preschool, could get a subsidy for an apartment, leaving her to pay no more than 40 percent of her monthly adjusted income on rent.

What happened next was maddening. Outdated listings, emails and voice mail messages that were never returned. Rental prices that suddenly increased after an inquiry. Apartments in disrepair that charged $2,000 a month. And the most egregious: Landlords made it clear that they did not want to rent to someone with a housing voucher.

Benitez’s journey became the focus of an article I wrote last month that revealed what someone with a voucher can encounter despite a state law that makes it illegal to discriminate against renters based on their source of income.

“I knew it was going to be difficult, I was just naïve,” she told me seven weeks into her search. “Everything is so automated. If I was actually able to talk to someone and share my story and let them meet me, I feel like that would make a difference.”

Landlords often associate Section 8 voucher holders with crime or consider them to be unreliable tenants. And while prospective tenants can report discrimination to the state civil rights department or request assistance from a legal services program, many just move on to the next listing, anxious about the expiration date on their voucher, or eventually give up.

The success rate for Los Angeles County’s housing authority from April 2021 to December 2022 was 44.7 percent of vouchers issued, according to a spokeswoman for the agency.

As she searched, Benitez was juggling finals and awaiting a reunion with her mother, who was deported to England six years earlier for drug possession. The two had not seen each other in person since then.

At one point Benitez was so overwhelmed by the stress of her housing that she wondered whether she might need to live at the hotel where her uncle stayed. She had help from a case manager through Jovenes and had also been assigned one of the housing authority’s program specialists, but was still often confused.

Following Benitez’s experience revealed how the housing market in Los Angeles County can feel nearly impossible to navigate, even with support. Particularly for a young woman unfamiliar with many of the bureaucratic roadblocks. When a management company ran Benitez’s credit, it came back blank. She had never owned a credit card for fear of going into debt like her mother, who had been arrested for petty theft.

Ultimately Benitez reached out to more than 300 places. Her journey ended on a hopeful note, but she wondered how anyone without her same advantages could ever be as lucky.

For more:

Where we’re traveling

Today’s tip comes from Michael Lepere, who lives in Santa Barbara:

“Being a lifelong Californian, it’s too difficult to choose a favorite spot. However, one that holds a top spot for me would be Big Sur.

On the edge of the continent. Stunning sunrises to amazing sunsets. Truly beautiful any time of year. Truly peaceful any time of year. Worth the drive up or down Highway 1.”

Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

And before you go, some good news

Saratoga High School’s drama program is heading to Scotland to perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the summer of 2024.

“Attending our performing arts theatrical productions has been a highlight of my time here,” Superintendent Bill W. Sanderson told The Mercury News. “Our student actors and staff directors and teachers are incredibly talented, and I’m thrilled that they will be able to highlight their talent at such a well-known and respected festival.”

The students will be part of the American High School Theater Festival, which is part of the larger festival.

Thanks for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow.

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.

Soumya Karlamangla, Briana Scalia and Isabella Grullón Paz contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.