Section 8 rant
Every time someone says they’re on Section 8, here come the keyboard philosophers hollering “use it as a stepping stone!” “get a job!” like they’re offering new advice from Mount Genius.
Let me break this down real clear, since y’all seem confused:
Wages are trash. Most of the jobs out here paying $15–$20/hr (if you’re lucky), and rent in most decent cities is $2,500+ for a two-bedroom. You do the math. You want me to work full-time, pay for childcare, cover utilities, transportation, groceries, healthcare, AND rent out of that?
Most of these jobs ain’t safe for your mind or your body. Y’all love pushing folks into retail, food service, warehouse jobs, home health aide roles—but don’t talk about how abusive, unstable, and outright traumatizing some of those environments are. You’ll risk your back, your mental health, and your dignity just to still fall short at the end of the month.
Y’all act like needing help is a personal failure. Newsflash: the system is designed like this. They’ve BEEN underpaying workers, overcharging rent, redlining neighborhoods, closing schools, gutting public transit, and then blaming the poor for trying to survive inside a rigged game. Section 8 wasn’t created to “lift people out” — it was created as a pressure release valve so the country doesn’t collapse under the weight of its own greed.
Being on Section 8 for life is not a moral failure. It’s not shameful. You don’t know folks’ stories, their trauma, their health conditions, their responsibilities. You can build a stable life, raise amazing kids, and contribute to your community with a voucher. Being housed is not a sin. Being poor is not a crime. Having a voucher is a blessing and you should squeeze it as hard as you can in this f’d up world.
So before you come to my page with your bootstraps Bible and that tired “get off the system” rhetoric, ask yourself: 👉🏾 Did the system ever plan for us to get on our feet? 👉🏾 Or are we just walking a treadmill so capitalism can burn us out and blame us for it?
Anyway. Y’all be blessed. I’ll be over here raising my kids, protecting my peace, and staying housed.
