A fresh start

Paul Clinton

Back in 1996, Carrie Stevens needed a break. Fresh out of an

abusive relationship, Stevens found herself in a battered women’s

shelter with her daughter, Paige.

With a little help from the good Samaritans at Human Options, the

group that ran the shelter, Stevens secured a low-income Section 8

housing voucher that put her on the path to a string of dwellings in

Eastside Costa Mesa.

“It’s been a godsend,” Stevens said. “Out of a horrible situation,

a good thing happened.”

About 9,100 residents in the county use vouchers from the Orange

County Housing Authority, and every month about 70 are returned to

the agency because the resident no longer needs or is eligible for

the assistance. Any returned vouchers are then turned over to people

on a waiting list.

In July, those needing vouchers received great news when the

Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it was handing

the county another 452 vouchers. The housing authority has a waiting

list of 12,000 hopefuls, making the vouchers near gold for those who

hold them.

For Stevens, the vouchers knock off about $700 of her

$1,300-a-month rent. Stevens only brings in about $150 to $200 a week

by working at The Latest Thing, a Mesa Verde curio shop. She sells

fairy wands and seashell mobiles -- many of which dangle in her

window sills.

Stevens said she can’t work full time because she contracted

hepatitis C while she was addicted to heroin and the condition has

weakened her energy levels.

Without the voucher, Stevens wouldn’t be able to make her rent

payments.

An afternoon with Stevens makes it clear she handles the home with

tender loving care. She planted her apple, kumquat and fig trees in

the backyard and many of her other plants in the frontyard to spruce

up the landscaping.

Securing the house was an ordeal. Stevens was turned down by more

than 30 landlords, who blanched when she told them she had a voucher.

She acknowledges that the vouchers can carry a stigma.

Not all property owners accept the vouchers. Some believe they

attract a “lower class” of tenant who may or may not make the rent

payment, landlord Barry Saywitz said. Not all landlords participate

in the program.

“I don’t think the voucher program is ideal for everybody,”

Saywitz said. “What I like about it is the rent is guaranteed.

There’s less risk of a tenant not paying their rent.”

Stevens and her 10-year-old daughter live in the house with their

two cats, Vinnie and Max, and a snake named Mocha.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment and politics. He may be

reached at (949) 764-4330.