Monday, July 13, 2009

Low Income Housing

The process for families looking for low income housing is similar to people looking for any other housing. The only difference being that in order to get housing for low income families, you have to meet certain requirements. The requirements are set by HUD and they will ask that your income be below a certain amount. Usually you have to be at 135% or below that of poverty. If you qualify for the program, HUD will pay the landlord part of the rent directly and you pay the other portion. This comes out to you paying less rent for housing than you otherwise would have been charged under normal circumstances.

The first step to applying for low income housing is to get consideration at a HUD office. Go to a housing agency and pick up an application. You must provide your income tax information to prove that your income is below the amount required for living in the housing. Once HUD has approved you, then you may begin your search for housing.

When you are looking for government low income housing, you want to make sure the place where you live is somewhere you would like. After all, you could be living at that housing for up to a year. So it's very important to find a place you like. The first step in looking for housing is to determine the area in which you will rent. Some areas where housing reside in are not good areas and has alot of crime. You can check the crime statistics of an area by going to the county's police website. Nothing beats driving around the area of the housing complex to find out whether it's good or bad though.

If you see some housing for rent signs, call up the owner and ask if they accept section 8 housing applicants. Most landlords should accept section 8 because the government will pay them directly and on time. This would save landlords alot of trouble in collecting rent from the renters. If the landlord does not provide for section 8, then just move on to the next house.

After you've found the low income housing that fits for you, check out the inside of the house. Landlords are required to keep their units up to HUD standards. If they do not, then HUD will not pay them until everything is up to code. You can get a list of requirements that landlords must follow from HUD. Inspect the housing unit and see if it's in violation. If not then and everything about the house seems fine, you can go ahead and rent it.