Sadly, not everyone can handle their bills like housing expenses every month. If you are having a hard time managing your housing expenses like rent and utilities, you’re not alone. However, there may be more hope than you realize. That’s because when people want to start their journey towards affordable housing, there are support options that can help.
First Step is to Understand Your Budget
While you may want to rush into different options to help you get affordable housing, you can’t make the most of them if you don’t know what affordable housing means for your budget. The federal government has a definition of what it means to have affordable housing. Affordable housing is worth no more than 30% of a household’s gross income every month according to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
To get some better context, let’s look at an example! Let’s say that you make $15 an hour at 40 hours a week at a factory. That means you make $2,400 a month before taxes. If you were to have affordable housing, then your housing expenses would be no more than $720. That’s hard to achieve, especially when the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in the United States is $1,701 (as of July 2022).
When households spend more than 30% on their housing expenses, they can find themselves cost-burdened. Sadly, cost-burdened households can have a more difficult time dealing with other costs like transportation, food, clothing, medical care, and more. That is why it’s so important to start towards affordable housing sooner rather than later.
Starting Towards Affordable Housing: Resources
After you took the time to better understand what affordable housing meant for your situation financially, you can begin your journey toward affordable housing. There are a bunch of places where you can start when it comes to checking out what support is available. Three opportunities include:
Your Local Public Housing Authority (PHA)
One of the first places to start is at your local PHA. Local PHAs are the ones that have the responsibility of administering and managing some HUD programs. They will have a variety of information about housing assistance, the application process, and more. One of the benefits that come along with local PHAs is the fact that the information they provide, as well as the applications, are free! That means individuals not only get guidance but they don’t have to pay anything for it.
Benefits.Gov
While your local PHA is a great place to start, that’s not the only resource you have. Another great option is the government website Benefits.gov. This website contains information on over 1,000 different support opportunities available through the government. Since there is so much information on this site, they have special tools that can help users.
Users can take advantage of the Benefit Finder tool. This tool allows people the chance to fill in details about their current situation like their household size, income level, and more. Once a person fills out this information, the tool will find different support opportunities that may help the situation that the person is currently dealing with. The only true way to see whether or not you would qualify for a specific opportunity is by applying. However, the programs shown will likely be a good fit. The site will also provide information on where individuals will need to apply and relevant contact information if applicable.
Search by Agency or Category
While the Benefit Finder Tool is a great opportunity, not everyone wants to fill out personal details online. For those that don’t want to, they can also search for available support by agency or category. For example, if a person knows they want to find housing support, they can look to see what options are available through HUD or by checking out options under Housing and Public Utilities.
211.Org
Another great place to start your affordable housing journey is at 211.org. This is a website that can provide local assistance information to those who reach out. While they are a resource for a variety of different assistance options, they do offer assistance to those in need of affordable housing. Many people don’t realize this option exists, but they have been providing millions of connections that were able to help reduce or even prevent housing insecurity/homelessness to those who got in touch.
In terms of housing support options that your local 211 can provide, there is more than you may realize. Your local 211 can help you find support opportunities to help you figure out housing expenses like rent, mortgage payments, utilities, and more. If you decide to reach out, you will want to expect to provide personal details about your situation like your income, living situation, etc. These details will allow those at your local 211 to provide a more personalized experience.
What Affordable Housing Opportunities are There?
Now that you know some great places to start when it comes to information or support, you also want to keep in mind some specific affordable housing opportunities that may be able to help. Some opportunities include:
Besides these opportunities that can specifically help with affordable housing, there are other government programs that you may benefit from. Other programs may be able to help because if they provide relief in other aspects of life, it can allow you to get a better grip on your finances. For example, let’s say through SNAP you get grocery support every month worth $350. That means you have $350 that you aren’t putting towards groceries and can instead go towards housing! Some other programs that may be able to help include:
- Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
- Lifeline Program
- Medicaid
- Medicare
- Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Social Security Disability Insurance Program (SSDI)
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Bottom Line
When you need affordable housing, it can feel like there’s no support. However, that’s not the case! There are plenty of resources to consider that can help. Affordable housing is considered to be no more than 30% of a household’s monthly gross income, according to the HUD definition. That amount of money will be different for everyone, depending on how much they make. If you want to begin your journey towards affordable housing, some great places to start include:
- Your Local Public Housing Authority (PHA)
- Benefits.Gov
- 211.Org
Besides the resources listed above, some specific affordable housing opportunities to keep in mind include:
- Housing Choice Voucher Program
- Public Housing
- Supportive Housing
Besides these resources and programs, you may be able to benefit from other federal programs that aren’t housing-related, but still can provide some relief. There is more support than you realize–you just need to know where to start!
