Got HUD? Good luck

I was a stay at home mom and consider myself very lucky to have been able to do that. When I divorced, I had around two quarters of college credits. I looked for a job and like we discussed in class, there were only minimum wages jobs available. I went to the welfare office and found out I was eligible for food stamps, Oregon Health Plane Medical Insurance and housing assistance. I did not qualify for cash assistance because I receive a fair amount of child support on a regular basis. The housing assistance is through HUD and they subsidize low-income people's rent. I was told the waiting list was 8-12 months. If I remember right, I got on to the program in less than 4 months. For this program you go out and find your own home and if it is within some guidelines set by HUD they will subsidize and pay a portion of your rent. The portion they help pay is determined by some formula HUD has set. There are guidelines the house needs to follow before HUD will subsidize your rent, for example: the house can only have so many bedrooms depending how many people are in your family. If you had 4 people in your family, you could not get a 6-bedroom house.

A HUD inspector comes and inspects the house/or apartment, looking for things like peeling paint (the house cannot have pealing paint if you have kids under 6 years old). They look to make sure all the outlets are covered; the windows must be able to open and can't be painted shut. The stove and fridge work have to work, basic safety things. Before the inspection, you need to find a house or apartment. I called apartments and after asking how much the rent and deposit was, I would ask if they accepted HUD. 'No' was always the answer. I borrowed my parents' car and wore something besides sweat pants, went to a new apartment complex, talked to the landlord, told her I was going to college, (which eventually was true). Probably told her some not so true things, too. I then asked if she accepted HUD and she said some thing like 'well we really were not going to, but for someone like you we can'.

Stigma? I do not really understand why landlords do not like to accept HUD. The rent check from HUD is sent directly to the landlord, it is like guaranteed rent. Is this an example of the common belief that people on welfare are lazy, dirty, and unmotivated to invest in human capital? The HUD program was available to me while I went to school and so was the medical, but the months I was in school for my two-year degree at a community college. I did not qualify for food stamps; the reason was I was in college, not a minimum wage job. Which was actually the mistake of an incompetent caseworker that was wrong about who qualifies and who does not. I returned to college last year as a jr. and have been receiving food stamps since then. Two months ago the policy changed. It used to be if you have children under twelve you can receive food stamps. Now it is the kids have to be under the age of 6 for a parent to receive them. My food stamps have been cut but my kids' have not. My reasoning on this whole situation is I could stay on welfare forever and in a minimum wage job or I can get a bachelors degree and hopefully get a decent job and get off of welfare.

I realize through our class that not ever person has the opportunity, support system (I have to give my parents a lot of credit) or access to the same programs I have had. Although I find it horribly degrading I guess I am lucky. Thanks to student loans and the Pell Grant (which I suppose is also welfare), I am able to get a four-year degree. I hate the part of our class that says, "A bachelors degree is not what it use to be". I am sure there are a lot more people and women with four-year degrees, but I do not believe that it is not as important as it use to be, maybe just more common. I guess I am hoping.