Well, don’t, as we’re about to show you a simpler and quicker way to get affordable housing whether you have a voucher or not.
Why do so many people apply to the Section 8 program? Because it offers extremely helpful housing assistance via vouchers. What’s so special about housing vouchers? The fact that they can limit how much you pay in rent each month.
If you have a Section 8 voucher, the maximum amount of rent you pay out of pocket each month will equal 30 percent of your income. Compare that to many low-income families that pay over half of their income to their landlords, and it’s easy to see why Section 8 vouchers are so coveted.
Ideally, there would be a Section 8 voucher for each low-income applicant. However, that’s not the case as the number of applicants far exceeds the number of vouchers. What does this result in? Wait times that some say reach 10 years. So if you need affordable housing now, Section 8 may not seem like such a great option.
Keeping all of this in mind, you should still apply for Section 8 assistance as soon as possible. Then, while your application is processing or you find yourself on a waitlist, you can make the more proactive move of contacting affordable housing property managers directly. If successful, this method could help you cut your rent costs without having a Section 8 voucher.
How To Make A List Of Affordable Housing Contacts
The more affordable housing contacts you have, the better. You want to contact as many people as you can who can help you find rental assistance, including counselors from Public Housing Agencies (PHAs).
They can help you with the Section 8 process, but more importantly, you can ask them for a list of affordable housing properties near you so you can contact managers directly.
Once you get your list of properties from PHAs, you can then use this map to find affordable housing units near you, along with contact info for their management teams. Lastly, do a Google search for “affordable housing” near you to see if you can find any other properties that didn’t show up via the first two methods.
Using Email To Contact Affordable Housing Properties
Now that you have a long list of affordable housing contacts from using those methods listed above, send each a quick email that contains information similar to this:
Dear (insert the name of the property manager here),
I see that you do a lot of work to help people in situations like my own get into affordable housing. I am interested in learning more about your property’s application process, so if you could please answer these questions, I’d greatly appreciate it:
- Is your property’s waitlist currently accepting applications?
- Do you have any units that charge 30 percent of income? (ask this if you don’t have a Section 8 housing voucher)
- Do you accept Section 8 housing vouchers? (ask this if you do have a voucher)
- How long is your waitlist?
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I’m looking forward to speaking to you soon.
Sincerely,
(Your name)
Will every single property manager you email respond? No, as the typical response rate hovers between 20-50%. Be persistent by resending the emails to anyone who doesn’t respond and making phone calls until you get a person on the phone. While this process may not be fun, it can save you a ton of time and money in the future.
Section 8 Assist
