Housing ReliefWould you like to lower the percentage of income that goes towards your rent each month? If you don’t make too much money, you probably would, as many low-income households spend over half of their income on rent, which leaves little cash left over for other bills.
What’s one of the best ways to lower your rent costs? Getting a voucher from the Section 8 housing assistance program. With that voucher, you’ll only have to spend 30 percent of your income on rent, while the rest of the tab will get picked up by the government and paid directly to your landlord.
While that may sound like music to your ears, there’s a significant downside to Section 8 vouchers: Their limited supply. And since there are so few vouchers to go around and so many people that need them, you could be looking at a wait of one to even 10 years before you get such assistance.
Does the long wait mean you should discard Section 8 as an affordable housing option? Absolutely not, as you should apply as soon as possible by contacting a Public Housing Agency. But once that’s finished, you should start contacting affordable housing buildings directly to see if you can find something faster.
Affordable Housing Scripts
When contacting affordable housing buildings, your goal is to see if they offer units that do not require Section 8 vouchers. How is this possible? Because some buildings get funding of their own that can make the rent a lot more affordable.
To see if you can get by without a voucher, you’ll need to either call or email the people in charge of the buildings. We’ll show you how to find such contacts in a minute, but first, let’s look at a couple of scripts you can use:
Use This Script When Emailing:
Dear (insert name of the person in charge):
I see that your building has helped put other low-income people into affordable units in the past, and I would like to see how I could do the same. Could you please tell me the following?
Is your waitlist currently accepting new applicants?
How long is the waitlist?
Do you have any units that charge just 30 percent of income? (include that line if you don’t have a voucher)
Do you accept Section 8?
I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to provide this information. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you,
(Your name)
Use This Script When Calling:
Hello,
I saw that you have some affordable housing units in your building. Are you accepting new applications for your waitlist?
How long is your waitlist?
What is the rent?
Do you have any units that charge 30 percent of income? (ask that if you don’t have a voucher)
Do you have units that are subsidized by the HUD? (ask that if you do have a voucher)
How do I apply? Can I do it via mail or email, or must I set up an in-person appointment?
Thanks for your time.
How To Find Your Housing Contacts
To use the scripts above, you’ll need to find affordable housing buildings. You can do so by using this HUD map, asking Public Housing Agencies for a list of such housing in the area, or going to Google and searching for affordable housing buildings in your city.
