Lakesha Hackett, 26, of Durham and her four young children are depending on an overburdened system of housing vouchers to help keep people like her off the streets.

Hackett is one of thousands of people in the Triangle on a waiting list for the Housing Choice Voucher, or Section 8, program, and she's lucky to be on a list at all. Housing authorities nationwide have suspended their lists as they've spiraled into the thousands.

Local housing organizations distribute the federal vouchers to low-income families and individuals. A household's income must be below 50 percent of the median income to qualify. Each local organization has a set number of vouchers from the department of Housing and Urban Development. Once those vouchers are out, the waiting list begins.

Hackett has been waiting for five years.

New federal money for vouchers has gone to specific groups such as veterans, and the economy has brought higher demand. The program was meant to be transitional, but most people who now enter don't leave, said Donna White, a HUD spokeswoman.

Hackett and her four kids have lived in and out of shelters in the Triangle and Charlotte for more than a year. When the shelters have been full for adults, she's slept on the streets of downtown Durham, her kids inside, sleeping alone.

"It hurt me so bad because they didn't choose to be here," she says. "My kids don't deserve the things they had to go through. It hurt me so bad inside."

Losing track

Wake County has two groups that administer the program: the Wake County Housing Authority and the Raleigh Housing Authority.

The Wake County Housing authority closed its list in 2009, but still has more than 1,200 people on it, said James Hales, director of operations for the group. The Raleigh Housing Authority wait list remains open, but has more than 5,000 people on it, said Hilda Holdsclaw, director of administration.

Since it often takes years for agencies to move through their lists, it's easy to lose track of people who signed up for Section 8 years ago. Earlier this month, the Wake County housing authority sent 500 letters to people on the list asking if they're still interested in the program.

"It's an everyday occurrence that people call and want a place to stay, need a place to stay," Hales said. "A woman we called today that a place is ready, she's been on the list for four years."

Orange County closed its waiting list in 2010 when it hit 2,000 people. It's been closed for about a year and still has more than 1,800 people still waiting for a voucher.

Durham's housing authority closed its list in 2006. Since then it's shrunk to just under 1,000 people and may reopen briefly next year, said Dallas J. Parks, the authority's chief executive officer.

"It's highly unfortunate that we have so many people in this community in this county, state and country who are in need of housing," he said. "It breaks your heart when you think about that, especially people with younger children."

Federal funding for the Section 8 program has been unpredictable, Parks said. Congress has cut money that enables local agencies to administer the vouchers, which makes it difficult to manage wait lists, he said.

"We receive two types of funding, one for the vouchers that go to the landlords and an administrative fee to manage the program," he explained. "That has been cut back in recent years, and we're concerned about having enough fee to manage the program properly."

The Durham Housing Authority, and Wake and Raleigh housing authorities also run their own programs that do not rely on Section 8 vouchers. In these programs, the groups own the housing and are the landlord. They place people in units they own through separate funding they get from donations and grants. Those programs all nearly full too, the groups say.

Limited options

Housing for New Hope, a nonprofit in Durham, runs several transitional housing programs to supplement the Section 8 vouchers, but even if a person can get rent-assistance, it's a struggle to find an apartment cheap enough to afford.

"We have to do a lot of detective work in order to find them," said Terry Allebaugh, executive director. "We need more affordable housing .... affordable to people who earn 50 percent below the median income."

The median incomes for a household in Durham County in 2010 was $47,401 a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Housing for New Hope has served about 214 households through its re-housing program, with help from a federal grant that was a part of the stimulus. That grant is set to expire in the spring, and the group is trying to find a way to fill the resulting gap.

"Without it and with the closing of the Section 8 ... we would have seen many more homeless individuals and families here in Durham," Allenbaugh said. "One of our big concerns is that especially with what happened with other federal funding, we could see a big spike in the number of homeless families."

Cynthia Harris, the re-housing coordinator for Housing for New Hope, says she can't keep up with the nearly 30 calls she gets daily from people needing help.

"They don't have anywhere to go; the shelters are full," she said. "So it's just unreal, nothing is opening up as far as Section 8 goes."

A temporary home

Harris has been working with Lakesha Hackett and her four children and family for months.

Last month Housing for New Hope found Hackett an apartment and agreed to pay the first six months' rent and all the start-up fees.

But if she doesn't find a job and her Section 8 doesn't come through by mid-2012, Hackett and her family may be homeless again.

Hackett doesn't have a high school diploma, has trouble reading and has also been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression; she has been looking for a job in Durham for more than a year.

She doesn't have a car, which limits her search to businesses near the bus lines. She turns in several applications a week, and Harris reviews them.

She's broken down a few times this year from her mental illness, being homeless and not having food to feed her family.

But as the new year comes, her children, all between 2 and 6 years old, will have a place to sleep. That makes her smile.

The family has no virtually furniture or money for laundry. They eat dinner picnic-style on the floor. Hackett sleeps on a box spring, her children double up in two twin beds.

"You see a lot of people look down on you," Hackett said. "We're out here struggling, we don't have money, the kids have to suffer. It's just really hard and really tough, and to have young kids that have to go through this .... I made a promise to myself that my kids not have to go through this again."