How To Find Affordable Housing

If you’re not happy with your current living situation and looking for ways to find affordable housing, this article will be a great help to you. Millions of people in the country are looking for decent, safe, and clean housing, so you’re not alone in the search for a better place to live.

Keep reading below to learn about one of the best ways to potentially upgrade where you live.

Housing Choice Voucher Program

The housing choice voucher program is a federally funded government program that helps low-income families, senior citizens, and people with disabilities find an affordable and clean living. One of the great benefits to this program is the options for housing includes single-family homes, apartments, and townhouses.

It is not just reduced to living in housing projects, so keep that in mind when applying.

To speak with someone directly for information, go to the HUD Voucher Website and select the state you live in.

Public Housing Agencies (PHA)

Are the ones who deal directly with the families that qualify for the housing choice voucher program. The PHA’s get their funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to oversee the voucher program.

Check out PHA to learn more about what the PHA offers in your location.

Choosing Your Home

Families that receive the voucher are responsible for finding their own housing unit where the owner has agreed to rent to families. Every unit must meet a minimum requirement of health and safety, as defined by the PHA. The subsidy is paid to the owner directly by the PHA on the family’s behalf.

The family is then responsible for any leftover balance of the rent, after the voucher program’s subsidy is deducted.

Find Out If You’re Eligible

Now that you’ve learned the basics of the housing choice voucher program, it’s time to find out if you qualify. Each housing voucher is administered by the PHA based on the total annual gross income and family size, with limitations to only US citizens and certain categories of non-citizens.

In order to qualify, the family’s income can’t be over 50% of the average income for the county or city area where the family decides to live.

Another requirement of the program is that the PHA must supply 75% of its vouchers to families whose total income does not exceed 30% of the area’s average income.

If your family is chosen by the PHA to participate in the program you will be placed on a waiting list. In certain cases, you may be given assistance immediately.

Once you have been selected off the waiting list, the PHA will get in touch with you and provide the housing voucher.

How To Apply

If this seems like a good option for you and your family, go to HUD’s website and find your local public housing agency.

There’s always options for people in difficult living situations, so be sure to check out the link above to see if you qualify for this program.