Low Income Housing

[mamayogibear]

Does anyone live in low income housing? I am moving to a small town this fall and think I would qualify. I am not to sure about it though.  My part time job (work at home) only makes me $700 a month and it's only a temp job and I'm not even positive it's not a scam as I haven't gotten paid yet! I will go back on TANF when I loose it or dont' get paid Can I be a student and get low income housing if I have a part time job, I'll be doing work study in the fall? Or do they not let students in? What happens if I get a good job and make more than their maximum amount? Will I get kicked out or do I get to stay until the end of my lease?

I am so broke right now but have to move because of getting into nursing school this fall. I think the only way I could afford to live in any place other than my van is if I can qualify for low income housing. Maybe I'm just stressing out over nothing because I could get a student loan again and pay rent with that but I really don't want to get any more in debt than I am! Thanks for any advice.

[mamapigeon]

I live in income restricted housing. The amount you can make to qualify is based on the number of people who will live in the apartment. My husband and I are both students (just fall and winter) and my husband is doing a 6 month internship. Our financial aid did count toward our income even though while we live here neither of us is in school. There is also a requirement that at least one member of the household not be a student (our son).

I'm not sure about suddenly making more. The best way to find out if you qualify is to apply though.   I imagine it's different around the country and in different situations. Good luck with it!

[MariesMama]

Most low income housing will not kick you out in the middle of a lease.  If your income goes up by more than $25 (IIRC) per month you will need to notify them, but the most they will do is increase your rent to the "market rent" amount.  Are you looking at Section 8 housing?

[lilyka]

Are you looking at specific low income housing or rental voucher system?  We have both here.  "Housing" can qualify you for either depending on what is available.  I have rental property.  I am not low  income housing though.  They it works is a tenant does everything like find a house,  apply, sign the lease...THEN housing comes in and tells them if the house is up to their guidelines (mine never has been )  This of course is dumb because now you have a lease (and could be responsible for lease breaking fees, deposit, application fees etc)  and the owner thought they had a tenant and you are both screwed.  If it does work out and the house is accepted and you qualify then it kinda works like food stamps.  You get an amount of rent paid by the state based on your need up to a certain amount.  So you may not qualify for the maximum but still might qualify for some.  For example one of my tenants thought she qualified for like $50....after all the paperwork, inspections, repairs, more inspections turned out she did not qualify for anything.  This would have been super suck if this is how she had planned on paying her rent.

Another thing to keep in mind is here, even if you qualify there is a waiting list to actually receive benefits.  Sometimes as much as 3 years!!

[mamayogibear]

The waiting list here for that type of housing assistance is closed. I am talking about apartment complexes that have low income units where the rent is about half the regular rent in the area.

I am not going to break my lease where I am now, I actually paid it all with a student loan I got back in January since I was having a tough time finding a job! So I have my rent paid until August and in September I start school in a different town that's a few hours away.

My house IS NOT up to code, the landlords specified 'no section 8 or housing vouchers' in the ad for it. There is no water pressure in the bathroom, the toilet clogs even though we use family cloth, there are swarms of giant ants, the electric shorts out if I have any appliances on when I vaccume or shampoo the floor, I could go on... but back to the point of my original post:

In the  town i am moving there are two apartment complexes that showed up when I gogled 'low income housing' and they both say they verify your income. One says it has a waitlist of 6 months and the other didn't say. I will call both of them on Monday to get more information. I was just hoping to hear from some moms that live in this type of housing and get their opinion on what it is like. Is there a sense of community? Are most of the other people single moms or families?

Cheers

[seawitch]

My husband lived in one of those and everyone was pretty nice. Clean, quiet.

Then we all moved into a complex together, and though we had some very nice neighbors who were family-oriented, there were also a lot of druggies, and the partiers were insane. Saturday and Sunday mornings we'd wake up to find all sorts of things in the apartment public areas broken or graffitied. Then the management would come fix it that week and the next weekend it was back to damaged. We had a pair of very nasty neighbors below us who were MAD that we had two preschoolers who dared to make noise. They made life hell for us. That said, there were always some nice people there too. And there were rapes and druggies in the locked! parking lot. I was scared to go down there alone.

My friend lived in one and the whole place was one big mess of druggies and criminals.

I think it's all dependent on the actual community.

I would personally choose a private rental over an apartment, though, as long as it was in a safe neighborhood.

[Mandynee22]

I live in an "affordable housing" complex but my apartment is alloted for "low income". There are something like 150 apartments here (I think...) but only 11 total are "low income". I won a lottery to get in. There's also a huge wait list, as I imagine most places around the country have for this sort of thing.

I love it here. It's all brand new so that's a plus. There's central air, which I've never had LOL. A playground, a washer and dryer in my apartment, a fitness room and computer center in the office...etc. I was VERY lucky to win. I had been on a lot of waiting lists.

There are always kids around for my kids to play with and people seem to get along (admittedly, I met most of the people I know through my kids haha)

The way it works here is there is one set amount of rent depending on apartment size and you have to fall into an income catagory. They also go through your WHOLE LIFE during the app process, inc CORI checks, which makes me feel better :-)

You can PM if you'd like anything more specific. I highly recommend calling ASAP. Even if a wait list says 6 months, it could very well be a lot longer than that.

[Drummer's Wife]

Maybe search "tax credit" apartments in your new area?  They are similar to low-income housing, except that it could be a typical apartment/townhome community that happens to have so many units available for families who make under a certain income.  However, they will still usually require you to make a certain amount above the rent - just as 3 times the rent is standard in full-price apartments.  So, if you only earn $700 a month and with the tax credit they charge you $500 a month, you likely wouldn't qualify.  Maybe if you include TANF as income it would help?  I'm not sure exactly how they count that money.  Hope you find an affordable new place!

[34me]

Also, does your school have family housing?  We didn't live there when my dh was in school but a lot of friends did/do.  Pretty nice apartments and everyone is in the same boat so really understanding about noise, etc.

I live in a university town and no one can be in school and not have a job and get any kind of help here.  My dh was in school full time, I worked full time and we weren't eligible for anything but WIC since he didn't have a job.

[mamayogibear]

Wow, thanks for all the advice mamas! Unfortunately the complex does not allow dogs over twenty pounds and my dog is 50 lbs on a slim day! So I'm hoping to find an affordable house in a okay neighborhood other than the low income housing. The apartments are only a few years old and so nice. I know my daughter would have loved to live close to other kids and have a playground right there. I'm kind of disappointed that they only allow tiny dogs and not medium ones. I guess it just wasn't meant to be...