When Becca Morris applied for a federal housing subsidy years ago, her life was in turmoil. She’d had a son at age 19, the father was in and out of rehab and prison, and she was couch surfing with friends and family.

So clearly we needed to subsidize this behavior

Morris wasn't fazed when the offer of rental aid came with a major condition: That money would end after seven years, max. “I feel like this was … good pressure,” she says. A push to do better and go back to school and “to do what I need to do.”

7 years is pressure? 7 years free rent…

Thanks to that subsidy, she and her son live in a small two-bedroom home in Bridgeville, Del. Blue light dances on the ceiling from two large aquariums, there are plants everywhere, and photos of her now 13-year old adorn the fridge. It is cozy but cramped, and Morris is eager for more space. And that seven-year cutoff? It’s actually come and gone, partly because of the COVID pandemic. But it turns out this program is about a lot more than a ticking time limit.

So 7 years tuned into what, 11? 11 years housing paid by the government because you fucked a drug addict felon as a teenager.