renting is more complicated these days

dko1951 said:
Thant you, I'm in California. Another reason for the difficulty, alarming shortage of affordable housing. Really, it's everywhere.
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What approximate price range do you consider affordable housing?
I know when government agencies use this term, what 'they' mean and what 'we' mean differs!!!
 

JaniceM said:
What approximate price range do you consider affordable housing?
I know when government agencies use this term, what 'they' mean and what 'we' mean differs!!!
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The term is usually defined as approximately 30 percent of your monthly income. Section 8 and privately owned typically use this formula. I was rejected twice for a waitlist for affordable low-income housing because I didn't make enough?
 

dko1951 said:
The term is usually defined as approximately 30 percent of your monthly income. Section 8 and privately owned typically use this formula. I was rejected twice for a waitlist for affordable low-income housing because I didn't make enough?
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The Housing Board here has listings of what they call affordable housing... affordable to whom?!?

As for your income situation, I had a longtime neighbor who'd been on Section 8 for the apartment he had and he had NO income.
 
JaniceM said:
The Housing Board here has listings of what they call affordable housing... affordable to whom?!?

As for your income situation, I had a longtime neighbor who'd been on Section 8 for the apartment he had and he had NO income.
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I met a man that paid only $150 a month for a new apt. in Sonoma County!!! All of the listings here a closed until some later date.
 
ManjaroKDE said:
Snowbirding From S Idaho to SW Arizona would be my answer. Did it for 5 years. No problem. Get the movie 'Nomadland' to see what the homeless are doing. I had the advantage of a pension & SS to sustain me. Many others don't.
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WTF! I had read that seniors were smoking more cannabis since it became legal. Appears so.
 
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dko1951 said:
I met a man that paid only $150 a month for a new apt. in Sonoma County!!! All of the listings here a closed until some later date.
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In California, to qualify for Section 8 housing your household income has to be 80% less than the area median to qualify as Low-Income, less than 50% of the area median to be very low-income, and less than 30% of the area median to be extremely low-income.

Section 8 and Subsidized Housing are 2 separate things. The Section 8 program is where you pay your part of the rent and the state pays the balance directly to your landlord. Your Sec 8 status can be cancelled at any time. Cheating by both tenants and landlords is rampant. Landlords are totally responsible for the cost of repairs and property destruction.

Subsidized Housing is actually owned by the state, in full or in part, and is managed by state-funded agencies. Subsidized Housing costs the state more than it earns, but it does make millions of tax dollars available to the state - money meant for contractors, utility companies, cable providers, etc.

Calif has tried to replace Sec 8 with a rent voucher program that would give the state access to more millions of tax dollars, but that hadn't gotten off the ground last I heard. But they very rarely approve a new property for Sec 8, and they've terminated a lot of Sec 8 people. Phasing it out, apparently.
 
Murrmurr said:
In California, to qualify for Section 8 housing your household income has to be 80% less than the area median to qualify as Low-Income, less than 50% of the area median to be very low-income, and less than 30% of the area median to be extremely low-income.

Section 8 and Subsidized Housing are 2 separate things. The Section 8 program is where you pay your part of the rent and the state pays the balance directly to your landlord. Your Sec 8 status can be cancelled at any time. Cheating by both tenants and landlords is rampant. Landlords are totally responsible for the cost of repairs and property destruction.

Subsidized Housing is actually owned by the state, in full or in part, and is managed by state-funded agencies. Subsidized Housing costs the state more than it earns, but it does make millions of tax dollars available to the state - money meant for contractors, utility companies, cable providers, etc.

Calif has tried to replace Sec 8 with a rent voucher program that would give the state access to more millions of tax dollars, but that hadn't gotten off the ground last I heard. But they very rarely approve a new property for Sec 8, and they've terminated a lot of Sec 8 people. Phasing it out, apparently.
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Yeah, calling it "The Voucher Program" doesn't carry the stigma of Section 8. Way less demeaning.
 
debodun said:
When I looked at senior housing (about 6 years ago) low-amenity senior housing was running $1400 - $2000 a month (£1200 - £1750). High end places were $3000 (£2600) and up. Probably even higher now.
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Obviously, that's not state-subsidized, low-income housing, and not meant for old folks living on their Soc-Sec.
 
katlupe said:
Most people who live in the senior housing I live in do not even begin to make that amount. Not even close.
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That's why I fell through the crack. The low-end ones were just holding tanks for people waiting to die - a room with a bed, dresser and night table. The high end ones I couldn't afford and offered more amenities than I would avail myself - like the one with an Olympic sized swimming pool.
 
One of the big problems with renting an apartment/flat is that there are communal areas besides the accommodation itself. There are charges for heating, lighting and cleaning these areas; all of which add to the rent. Many tenants are messy and have little respect for shared corridors etc, which can cause disputes.
Where I live, twice now a tenant has vacated their property and left piles of discarded belongings in the backyard. The rest of us have had to pay to have it removed. This is the kind of thing which needs to be clarified before you move in....who is responsible for removing excess rubbish?
 
A man I used to work with was an inner-city landlord. He had nothing but trouble with tenants. Two instance he related stuck in my mind. He complained that some tenants wanted fresh air and opened the windows in the winter, then jacked up the thermostat to 90F to stay warm. Another time he had to evict a tenant (whose lease state he would be the only occupant) who rented then moved his whole extended family in. When the tenent left, he trashed the place, smashed the appliances, threw the bed out the window, and committed an atrocity that I will not mention here because of member sensitivity.

I'd never be a landlord!
 
@ anyone here...:

1. On Sept. 2, I received email stating "you are approved for the apartment." Later that day, I received another email with 3 additional documents to sign. As of today 9/6 my online application is still listed as "pending."

2. On Sept. 1, I needed assistance from current manager to pay my rent as I couldn't figure out his online system. This morning, I received a "past-due notice" for my rent and a big late fee.

It isn't just me, is it- people don't know what they're doing?!?
 
Lavinia said:
Where I live, twice now a tenant has vacated their property and left piles of discarded belongings in the backyard. The rest of us have had to pay to have it removed. This is the kind of thing which needs to be clarified before you move in....who is responsible for removing excess rubbish?
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Why isn't your landlord responsible?
 
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