There’s a lot more help for people in shelter than those who are housed. That’s because the state pays a lot of money to ensure all families have access to shelter so they’re incentivized to come up with ways to move those families into housing. The ones below your client likely moved out of homelessness through one of the housing subsidies put into place to move them out of shelter. It’s highly unlikely they have a section 8 voucher (thru HUD) if they are all truly undocumented. Possibly MRVP or a short term subsidy like HomeBASE.

And no one is illegal. That’s a dog whistle for racists.

Illegal “aliens” cannot qualify for section 8. Period end of story. Maybe they are TPS. Maybe they have an undocumented minor that is a part of the Ascentria program (which do get subsidized housing but not through section 8). What I can tell ou with my 15 years in the field is that when there is a major disaster in another country and refugees come over yes about 30% of them DO bump others down on the list because they literally have no home. But very few qualify for that kind of bump up to the top of the list. Also I want to mention that your client isn’t the only person struggling on the list. I have a patient who has been on the section 8 list for 6 years. He is Ghanaian. Been in the US since 2000. He is an elder and has a disability at this point. He claims “the Spanish people get their apartments right away. I’ll never get one”. As misguided as he is, he sees it happen daily. I get it. But true undocumented people not involved with a program absolutely cannot get section 8. Period. End of discussion.

So what you’re saying is that the problem isn’t undocumented people, it’s that the government is not utilizing money for housing appropriately and isn’t distributing housing appropriately to those in need.