Convenience Big Store: Harris County's affordable housing voucher system is broken

March 24, 2025

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Houston postal workers and community members gathered Sunday to protest a proposal to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, part of a national movement organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers. The protest comes in response to President Donald Trump's plan to shift control of USPS to the Commerce Department and consider privatization, amid financial struggles within the agency.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has suggested cutting 10,000 jobs and billions from the budget, but U.S. Rep. Al Green assured protesters he would oppose privatization efforts, emphasizing that such decisions rest with Congress.

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Lauren Mitchell, Digital Production Editor

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Karen Ussin, 62, poses for a photograph with stacks of her documents with the Harris County Housing Authority Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025 at her daughter's apartment in Jersey Village. Ussin and her prospective landlord worked together to provide every document the housing authority requested to rent to Ussin using her voucher. But the housing authority often had delayed communication and canceled her voucher when some documents arrived a few days late, they declined to give her an extension.

Photo by: Yi-Chin Lee (Staff photographer)

Why tenants and landlords say the affordable housing voucher system is broken

The clock was ticking.

On Sept. 17, Karen Ussin caught an Uber from her daughter's apartment in Jersey Village to the Harris County Housing Authority's office east of downtown, nearly an hour's drive away.

It was an expensive ride, but she had few options – like many housing authority clients, she didn't have a car of her own. As she traveled across Houston, she steeled herself for the difficult housing search and bureaucratic morass she knew lay ahead.

Ussin, 62, had an appointment to pick up her housing choice voucher – the main rental subsidy program in the U.S. that makes housing affordable to those with very low incomes. Her sole income was $963 a month in disability, and she could not afford an apartment in Harris County without it.

But while the nation leans heavily on vouchers to make housing affordable for its most vulnerable, the program is also infamous for its difficulty of use. Ussin's journey over the following weeks exemplified why tenants and landlords call the voucher system broken, and what could be done to fix it.

Read R.A. Schuetz's full story here.

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Katy Mayor Pro Tem Chris Harris and Mayor Dusty Thiele.

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☝️ One Last Word

Spotify has been making waves recently as high-profile artists pull their music due to ongoing royalty disputes, even as the platform claims to have paid more to musicians than any other retailer or streaming service in 2024. Houston artists are no exception, expressing similar frustrations over compensation.

Curious to see how Spotify compares to its competitors? Check out our detailed comparison of music streaming services to find out!

— Lauren Mitchell