Dec 052011
 

Finding affordable housing for a senior who is on a low fixed income (such as social security or disability) can be a difficult task. Cheap low income apartments for seniors are often times hard to find — the supply is greatly outstripped by demand.   Many seniors do not have the means that more affluent elderly people have. If you are a senior that doesn’t own a home or a have an insurance policy with a large cash value, you may find it difficult to get good assisted living in your area. Many active living communities utilize reverse mortgages or “life settlements” where seniors take cash out of a life insurance policy in order to pay fees toward assisted living.


Still, there are many resources that low income senior citizens can draw upon. First, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development will often help provide low rent section 8 apartments to seniors whose income is below a certain income limit.  This income needs to be below the designated threshold for the given county (HUD has links where seniors can search and see their county’s income limits [IL])  For instance, a senior living in Minneapolis, Minnesota  Hennepin County would find the “low” income limit at about $45,000. The “very low” income designation would be quite a bit lower at $13,000 dollars.

If you are having trouble understanding how to fill out a section 8 application, we have a helpful video:

Elderly people who fall into the “low” designation or below will often qualify for a  low income rent voucher which can help pay a low rent apartment  landlord toward rent for affordable housing.  This will dramatically lower monthly rent for qualifying seniors.  This is particularly powerful for seniors that are raising grandchildren.  


If you are a senior looking to find a cheap apartment rental for community that allows grandchildren, it will be important to establish that you have them in your household. This will help to lower the amount of that income limit threshold that we discussed earlier. We will discuss more about the challenges of caring for yourself and grandchildren or foster children in later posts.