Low Income Housing in King County Washington

Lion

A friend of mine is going to move to the Seattle area from IL and wants to get low income housing. I think she will qualify as she'll be on unemployment while she's job hunting and that's only going to be somewhere between $200-$300 a month.

Any job she will be looking at will be at minimum $40k a year. I don't think that qualifies for LIH but does anyone know for sure? Also, if she were to get a job that makes her more money than would qualify for LIH, can her lease get terminated now that she no longer qualifies?

I'm just trying to get a handle on this stuff so I won't be stuck playing clean up.

adytum

As far as I'm familiar with Section 8, as a single individual you'd need to be making $20,000 or less to even qualify, and you'd then have to deal with the application process; it's not a simple thing to get into. And that's assuming the waiting list is even taking applications, which I doubt it will be in this economic climate. It's a several year process and I doubt your friend will be able to take advantage of it.

Washington may have more specific programs.

Usagi

Uh, I'm pretty sure if she hasn't worked in the state of Washington she won't qualify for unemployment there

From here:

Requirements
You must have 680 hours of covered employment in your base year to meet the initial requirements to qualify for a claim. You must also have wages in Washington in order to file your unemployment claim against the state of Washington.

Seattle Thread

The only thing I'm familiar with in Seattle proper is Housing Resources Group, which doesn't even go below $480 on their lowest rental. There's generally a long waiting list and a stringent set of requirements for these units as well. Even the roommate-wanted classifieds typically don't dip below $400.

How is this unemployment thing going to work? Is she going to collect Illinois State UI while residing here? Is that even possible? Because she sure doesn't qualify for Washington State UI now, and won't until she has worked in this state for 18 or 24 months.*

Let me ask you this: has she done any research at all, or has she come up with the idea to move out west on a whim?

*e: Usagi nailed it down. The restrictions have eased since I last applied for UI several years ago, but 680 hours is still far more than the zero your pal currently has.

Kakodaimonos

Usagi wrote: »

Uh, I'm pretty sure if she hasn't worked in the state of Washington she won't qualify for unemployment there

From here:

Requirements
You must have 680 hours of covered employment in your base year to meet the initial requirements to qualify for a claim. You must also have wages in Washington in order to file your unemployment claim against the state of Washington.

No. She'll have to file an interstate claim in Washington to get UI benefits from Illinois. It's a pretty convoluted process to go through, but it is doable.

Usagi

Yeah, that sounds like it would be a huge pain in the ass and leave the state of IL open to fraud. Frankly, I'd be surprised if they'd do that, or at least make it a long-term option.

What industry is she hoping to work in? How much experience does she have? Can she be looking for employment before she leaves IL, because honestly the job market here in Seattle is still pretty slow

Seattle Thread

Additionally, $200-300 a month is barely enough for a food budget. She would be much better off working part-time for minimum wage, even.

Lion

She'd be collecting unemployment from IL. Reading the stuff I did about LIH made me think there's no way she'd be able to qualify. But she thinks she will as long as she can sign a lease with IL unemployment as her only income source and, once she gets a job, she thinks she will be able to finish the lease even if she no longer meets the income requirement. Like she wouldn't just be kicked out or something.

I think this is seriously fucking stupid.

It's not a whim because she really does need to live in the Seattle area for job opportunities. It's just that things like housing and the logistics of housing seem to be just details that she can figure out whenever.

Originally, her, my girlfriend, and I , were going to split rent on a 2 bedroom place. If the friend is not in the picture, my gf and I will just get a 1 bed place. I just don't want this friend to completely fuck herself with housing so that we end up taking her in on a smaller place just so she isn't homeless.

EDIT: Her company abruptly shut down very recently due to complete fuckups by the CEO of the company. Her apartment lease is up in IL sometime in April. So she has to move out of there at some point. Also, I'm sorry if I'm being vague. I'm trying to not have this stuff be personally identifiable.

Usagi

If she is planning on living in Seattle on <$300 a month she shouldn't even pack her bags in Illinois

Housing, transit, food and moving all cost cash dollars and that is not enough

Seattle Thread

Transit! Even riding the bus just twice per day, on off-peak times, 5 days per week is $90 per month.

Here's what she can do: move on out here and find some shitty minimum-wage job that will support her while she searches for a real career. Plenty of people have done it--myself included, although my move involved a 30-minute ferry ride--and our state minimum wage is $8.67/hr. That alone is more per week than the Illinois UI figure would be per month, and it's actually doable.

As7

She needs to have some money saved before this mover or she needs to be getting income from somewhere else, period. You can find some cheep apartments in King county but not at $300 dollars per month, at least not if she doesn't want a roommate who sleeps in her living room.

For a while I lived in Bothell, on the outskirts of King County, and paid about $750 a month for an OK 1 bedroom apartment. I felt I had gotten a good deal. If I had had a job in Seattle I would have had to tack on an hour long commute each way by car and much more in gas.

Thanatos

She almost certainly won't qualify for low-income housing until she has lived here for awhile.

mrt144

She can forget about living anywhere near anything good aka Capitol Hill (Heavy bias here).

Doc

mrt144 wrote: »

She can forget about living anywhere near anything good aka Capitol Hill (Heavy bias here).

Capitol Hill has pretty affordable rents, as far as Seattle goes. I have a friend that is in low income housing right across I-5, so it's not like it's a huge stretch. Basically the only places that are reliably cheaper are some of the bad parts of the Central District and Rainier Valley, but there aren't nearly as many apartments available there.

That said, there's no way you can expect to be anything but homeless if you plan on moving to Seattle with a budget of $300 per month.

Mass transit, as said, is $90 per month if you use it enough to get to and from work. Even if you own a car, between gas, maintainable, and insurance, you're going to chew through at least half of your money on just getting around. Budget $1.50 per meal (eating like shit) for the month and you're looking at another $135. Let's be super generous and say that your getting around and eating can be done for $200 per month, that leaves you with $100 for:

- housing (even low-income subsidized housing is like $500+ per month)
- utilities
- clothes (and washing them)
- sundries like laundry detergent, toothpaste, cardboard signs to hold up to cars at red lights, sharpie markers to write on those signs, etc.

Tell her to get used to the term "Ave Rat."

Are you sure it's not $300 per week?

Lion

She told me it was $300 per month. I'm not sure how much savings she actually has. She's certain low-income housing is the way to go. I'll tell her she more than likely won't qualify unless she's been living there a while and see what she says. Like I said, I really just want to avoid a situation where there's 3 people living in a 1 bedroom place.

Deebaser

This is one of the worst ideas.

Point her to http://www.seattlehousing.org and kindly remind her that affordable housing programs weren't set up to import unemployed people. Hopefully she reconsiders and doesn't waste a civil servant's time reviewing and (hopefully) rejecting this scheme.

TychoCelchuuu

Lion wrote: »

She told me it was $300 per month. I'm not sure how much savings she actually has. She's certain low-income housing is the way to go. I'll tell her she more than likely won't qualify unless she's been living there a while and see what she says. Like I said, I really just want to avoid a situation where there's 3 people living in a 1 bedroom place.

She's going to be lucky if there's even a 1 bedroom place for 3 people to live in. She can't live in Seattle with that kind of money.

bowen

OP, do you live in the Seattle area? If she can live with you and pay like $100 in rent then she could start looking and have no bills other than food. You'd probably have a hard time living in the slums of a really low cost of living area with that kind of money. That's roughly $69 a week, for a year of unemployment pay. That's like an 9.5 hour a week job at the federal minimum wage level. You can do better than that at Burger King in WA as long as you're not an asshole.

She'd be better getting the unemployment, paying you or someone she knows there rent, and looking for a job immediately. If she says she'll close I bet she can get a job 35 seconds after asking about a job application at Burger King.

This is also why you don't move across country/states with absolutely no savings or money to your name. It's like starting a whole new life like you're 16 again. Except this time you don't have parents to mooch off of.

tl;dr: She can do it if she has someone, like you, who she can crash with for a few months. She should get two minimum wage jobs if she has to just to make rent.

Lion

I don't live in Seattle. My gf and I are planning on moving out in April/May and we were going to get a 2 bedroom apt with this friend because splitting shit 3 ways seemed like it would make the transition process easier. I was planning on getting the first job I could get while I looked for something better because some money is better than no money and my gf also has contract work she can do while she looks for something permanent out there.

But now this friend has got this low-income housing bullshit stuck in her head. Fine, whatever. The gf and I will just get a 1 bedroom place. Except I really can't see this "plan" of hers working so inevitably she's going to end up living with us because I'm not going to let her be homeless. So now there's 3 people sharing a 1 bedroom apartment and that is the situation I want to avoid at all costs. It wouldn't end well.

bowen

There's really nothing you can do. If she refuses to plan accordingly it is not your fault she ended up on the street. She's dead set on something that is impossible.

I'd tell her she has a better chance of becoming spider-man than getting approved for LIH.

Deebaser

Yeah, if her plan were even the slightest bit possible, Low income housing projects would be filled with hipsters.

bowen

Not to mention someone on unemployment is never approved for unemployment long enough for it to even get in past the waiting list usually. I think up here in Syracuse the waiting list is something like 1-2 years. Maximum length for unemployment is something like 6 months.

LIH is basically for people who are permanently disabled that can still live and function to some semblance without care (kidney disease comes to mind, or a carpenter that lost his leg in an accident), or someone on welfare with kids. Basically those that still pull in income through SSI/D and workers comp, but not at the financially independent level -- People who will not have a change in income in the positive, ever, unless they win the lotto or something.

Deebaser is right, it'd be filled with hipsters and stoners if this was the case.

adytum

HUD lists the housing voucher program as having a 5+ year waiting list.

And there's a waiting list for the waiting list.

And local residents are given preference.

So..

Kate of Lokys

Combine this:

Lion wrote: »

inevitably she's going to end up living with us because I'm not going to let her be homeless. So now there's 3 people sharing a 1 bedroom apartment and that is the situation I want to avoid at all costs. It wouldn't end well.

With this:

bowen wrote: »

This is also why you don't move across country/states with absolutely no savings or money to your name. It's like starting a whole new life like you're 16 again. Except this time you don't have parents to mooch off of.

And you have your real problem: your friend is taking advantage of your generosity to use you as a surrogate parent. You're her safety net, and as long as she knows you're going to be there to pick up her slack and give her a place to stay, she doesn't need to care that her idea just isn't going to work.

You need to decide how responsible you want to be for the welfare of your friend, and how responsible you can afford to be for her. If you and your girlfriend can afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment with the assumption that there will be no third person contributing rent, and if she's a really good friend and you're confident that she'll be on her feet in no time, then sure, helping out would be a damned swell thing to do. But if you're going to be putting yourself in a position where you're needing to rely on her to pay the bills, and she won't get a job to help out because she's waiting for something in her field... suddenly her problems are your problems, too.

It's one thing to offer a helping hand to a friend who has fallen on hard times: if a buddy breaks up with his girlfriend and gets kicked out of her apartment, then yeah, man, you let him crash on your couch for a couple of weeks until he finds a new place, because that's what friends do.

But it's something else entirely to just stand there waiting to catch someone who's flinging themselves off a cliff. She very obviously hasn't put any thought, effort, or research into this at all, and the fact that she views living on $300 per month in unemployment to be more viable than just getting a minimum wage job is honestly kind of scary.

Figure out how much your friend is worth to you, then tell her. If you decide that the joy of her company is worth having her live with you for months without contributing anything to expenses, well, you're a nobler man than I, and she's lucky to have someone like you. But if you decide that you're not willing to risk your financial stability by carrying her, you need to tell her very clearly that you and your girlfriend are getting a one-bedroom apartment, and that there will not be room for her in it.

finral

What job opportunities does your friend thing she will have available here. I live in Seattle at the moment, and job competition is pretty fierce. For example, I just applied to a job with pretty specific skill set requirements (which I met). I found out through a contact that 180 people applied, and 6 were interviewed. Rough! People here are looking at 6 months to a year to find a job, and that is not necessarily even a great one. Add to that the higher cost of living, and it is not a place I would recommend anyone to move to without something lined up already.

Deebaser

I think it all sorts itself out if you don't let her crash at yours until she gets situated with public housing. Her plot can't critically fail if she never moves out there to begin with.

Lion

I think I'm just going to wish her well and plan for just my girlfriend and I. Let her know she's not going to be able to fuck up and expect to live with us in a 1 bedroom place.

For the record, the move to Seattle is to get work in the game industry. Well, for my girlfriend and the friend anyway.

admanb

... welp, at least it doesn't rain much here.

Wait... I'm thinking of some other place.