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My mom won a drawing for housing assistance for 1 year in Polk county, and was told she needed to find a house to rent immediately or she would no longer qualify for the assistance. She was required to find a 4br because of the number of children she has, but Housing would not pay for anything more than around $800/mth (including utilities). It was near impossible to find a house that had the right number of bedrooms, low enough rent, pass inspection, be in an area that my siblings would be safe in, and allow Section 8! During this whole process my mom was practically homeless, living in a tent at campsites and in my grandma's backyard (thank goodness it was dry this summer). My siblings were spread out among different family members and friends. And when my mom finally did find a place, after being told her voucher would expire if she didn't use it right away, it ended up that Housing didn't even have the funds available to pay the rent! She is now living in a townhome, and we are very thankful for the assistance that Housing provides, but the whole ordeal was incredibly stressful and disheartening.

posted 3 years, 4 months ago
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