Income Based Apartments

A friend of mine had lost his job about two years ago and although he has found work, it certainly does not pay as much as his previous job did. In fact, he now joins the rank of Americans living in poverty. Because of this he has had to downgrade his life. He could not afford to eat out every night, and take expensive vacations. He even had to downgrade his expensive downtown apartment.

I told him that he could move to income based apartments which would really be beneficial for him. He had no idea what apartments based on income were all about. I told him that I knew some families that got help from the government and the government would help pay part of the rent on these apartments. The only requirement is that the person has to be within the income limits set by the government which happens to be 135% of the poverty level. So my friend went down to the HUD housing agency to apply.

He was given a voucher by the housing agency which he could use anywhere that landlords would accept it. We started looking for apartments that would be most suitable for him. Although he had a voucher from HUD he still needed to find a place that was within his ability to pay the rent. We looked for apartments that were close to his work. By finding a place close to work, he would not have to drive far thus saving money on gas. Another plus would be if the apartment was close to grocery shopping areas. Of course, sometimes the apartment location would not be able to satisfy all your wants and needs. You would have to pick the characteristics that you want the most and go with those while sacrificing the others. We were finally able to find a place that my friend liked. Plus the apartments did not look too old. People living there seemed friendly and the staff were nice. Most importantly though, they accepted the voucher.