Monday, August 10, 2009

Low Income Senior Housing

HUD, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, established low income senior housing to help seniors who are not making much money to live in decent apartments. This is a great benefit to many seniors because after retirement, most seniors have no other source of income other than social security. Usually social security checks are not enough to pay for housing and other living expenses. With low income senior housing, HUD subsidizes the housing and thereby seniors pay less for rent.

Finding the right low income senior citizen housing is crucial. You don’t want to end up in a place you’ll hate since you will spend most of your time there. So before you set out looking for apartments and houses, evaluate the costs and compare it to the benefits. Some housing complexes might offer extras like a gym or pool. They might even have programs set up for their residents. Of course the more things that a complex offers, the higher the rent will be. You will need to consider how much you want to pay in rent.

Most seniors looking for housing can begin their search from HUD. Since HUD has to approve of the housing, then they should have a list of all the senior housing. Either you can obtain the list from HUD’s website or go to the housing agency and ask them for it.

Any housing complex that you are interested in you should do a careful background check on them. Look on the Better Business Bureau to see if they have any complaints against them. Also, check online and see if there are reviews for the housing complex by residents. People usually post good and bad opinions online. Since you could be spending the rest of your days in the housing, make sure you move into one that you’ll love. So be discriminating as much as possible when choosing a place to live.