What Suggestions do you Have?

Question

Okay Im moving to Minnesota from Chicago. I wanted to know was there any suggestions or advice that I could get that would help me! I wanted to move into affordable housing or sign up for Section 8! Also, How does Minnesota differ or compare to Chicago what are the similarites and differences?

Answer 1

I can't speak to Minnesota in particular, but here is some information about finding affordable housing.

"Affordable housing" is a specific term that refers to housing that has been made affordable to lower income people through the use of public or private subsidies.  The level of affordability varies, and is usually described as a percentage of area median income, i.e. 80% AMI.  That means that in order to qualify, you must earn no more than 80% of the area median income for a household of your size.  

State income limits can be found at:

http://www.huduser.org/intercept.asp?loc...

That will give you a rough idea of your eligibility, but income limits are usually higher in the larger cities.

Once you know if you qualify, try checking the websites of the housing departments of your state, county, and city.  In your case, the state website is http://www.mnhousing.gov/consumers/rente...  (Click on "Housing for Families" even if you're single.  It's a little misleading.)  They will often have a list of the housing they have subsidized in the past, and what is becoming available in the near future.

Affordable housing falls into two main categories:

1. Federally-funded apartments operated by local housing authorities (the are sometimes called "the projects")

2. Apartments and houses developed and operated by nonprofit housing developers.

To get affordable housing #1, contact your local housing authority.  Despite its reputation, some of this housing is quite good.  Your local housing authority also doles out the coveted Section 8 vouchers that allow you to rent private housing and pay no more than 30% of your income.  Section 8 pays the difference.

As for housing #2, I'll repeat what I wrote above about the websites for local housing departments.  Another way to get affordable housing #2 is to figure out who the nonprofit housing developers are in your area and getting on their mailing list, and the waiting list for any of their housing developments that you would like to live in and could qualify for.  For instance, Minneapolis/St. Paul, there is http://www.fhfund.org/.