She has landed a Section 8 voucher, the coveted federal housing subsidy, which helps pay the rent. A voucher is like a ticket to any part of the city. Chanel has only to pick a neighborhood and start looking for rentals. For years, she has lived in places chosen by others—bureaucrats in crowded offices, administrators of the shelter system. She was like a pawn on a chess board, moved around by unseen hands. The randomness made it easier for Chanel to disown the failures that followed. This was always the pattern, to blame her troubles on someone else. But now the hands on the chessboard are
...more
