RoxanneHere are two ways to find affordable housing that you may not have heard of.
Low-income families aren’t the only ones struggling to pay the rent, as increasing costs for groceries, gas, and everyday products are straining the budgets of those who bring in decent incomes as well. Add in the fact that rents are increasing too, and you now have many people scrambling to lower their housing costs.
You could get a roommate to split your rent and lower your out-of-pocket burden. And you could also move to a smaller place in a cheaper location to lower your costs. But what if neither option suits you? If that’s the case, try these options for finding affordable housing:
1. Contact your Public Housing Agency.
Yes, you can contact a Public Housing Agency (PHA) to begin the Section 8 application process with the hopes of getting a voucher that can pay most of your rent costs. But the voucher process can take up to 10 years to complete. If that’s too long of a wait, contact your nearest PHA and ask if they are currently accepting applications for any of their waitlists. If so, you could get an apartment where you only pay 30 percent of your income towards rent without needing a voucher.
What are the chances of this working? Very slim since the demand for such affordable housing is so high. So if this option doesn’t work, try the next one.
2. Contact affordable housing buildings directly.
If your PHA cannot help you in a timely manner, you will have to take the more direct route of contacting affordable housing buildings in your area to see if they have any openings. The goal here is to find units where the rent is 30 percent maximum of your monthly income. In other words, units that function like vouchers thanks to funding from the buildings themselves. Even if you make no income, you could find such units. You will probably have to pay a security deposit, though.
When taking this route, it’s essential to watch out for scams. Many websites will offer such a service in exchange for a fee, or they’ll have ads promising such services. Avoid these websites and ads, as you should not have to pay any application fees to find affordable housing. The only time application fees would apply is if you were using a Section 8 voucher and looking for landlords to accept you as a tenant. Since you are not using a voucher in this instance, no application fees should be involved.
You can find affordable housing buildings in several ways. Your first option is the HUD Resource Locator. The second is the USDA apartment search, which works if you live in or want to move to a rural area. Lastly, try a Google search for affordable housing near you by entering your city, county, or even zip code to see what pops up.
When contacting the buildings, be sure to ask about the rent. Just because it says it’s “low income” does not mean it will be affordable. By asking if they have any units that charge 30 percent of income for rent, you will be able to find out if they are genuinely affordable and mimic the cheap rent that a voucher can offer.
