I’m not even sure OKC has its own housing authority? But if you live in a small town you’ll have to go through the OHFA. If you don’t live in OK you’ll have to Google your city/state’s housing authority.
You can get two types of housing through these people. Either projects that are somehow worse then HUD projects or a section 8 housing voucher. With a section 8 housing voucher one can get any type of housing available…if it exists & one can find it. They give preference to domestic violence or homeless people, the disabled, & the elderly.
Notice I said if it exists & one can find it. Whoever built my city was evidently retarded as hell. Both the street developer guy & the construction guy…total freaking retards.
For example if you want to get on a freeway going a certain direction on one street you might have to be over in the right hand lane. On another you may have to be over in the left hand lane. If you’re not from here & don’t realize our street developer guy was retarded…this would drive you crazy. Even if you are from here & tend to have brain farts occasionally this would still drive you crazy…take it from a hag who knows. This is one of many things on my long list of “things that have driven me nuttier then a fruitcake”.
Then there’s the construction guy. They didn’t have crack back then so it must’ve been opium or mushrooms or something? He decided people in not just apartments but also condos & town-homes & duplexes don’t really need silly little things like space or dishwashers or washer & dryer connections. I saw one condo that was barely bigger then a box. I would’ve had to get rid of half that I own just to be able to move in. Why are we doing this it’s not like Tulsa’s some cramped little city. They build ‘em big in TX plus give ‘em hot tubs. Why can’t we do that here?
Before receiving section 8 housing vouchers some of these folks are coming from THA or HUD projects. While here many live like pigs (causing the rest of us to have roaches & mice) & trash the place yet aren’t reported. Then they get a voucher & go to some unsuspecting renter & trash their place. Then these people quit renting to anybody with a section 8 housing voucher! This would explain where part of our options go.
In every place I’ve lived the rich live one place & the poor live another. Wherever the poor live it is run down. So here when we get vouchers they try to move us out there even if they have to practically give us some place or completely remodel it to do it. Even if I wanted to move out there…which I don’t cuz it’s even worse then here…I’m only one person. They barely make one bedroom condos, townhomes, duplexes, mobile homes or houses…much less with washer & dryer connections. Any 2 bedrooms they make also don’t have washer & dryer connections. This leaves single people with no one stuck with apartments. There’s only 2 or 3 complexes in Tulsa that have one bedrooms with connections & it’s hell grabbing one while it’s open.
When you get a voucher you go to something like a 2-hour or so meeting to hear about their policies & procedures. If you’re one who lets info come into one ear & straight out the other you should probably take someone with you. I didn’t.
I came home & spent most of my time I had to find & secure a place trying to find a decent place. When I found it I emailed my lil case-worker. I asked her a simple question…when do I turn all this paperwork in? She told me the day before the place was ready to be inspected. Apts say it can be inspected & you can move in on the same day. So I turned my stuff in the day before I thought I was moving in.
Apartments also expect you to have all the bills on in your name. You know everybody has their own policies & procedures & they don’t always work together. For example my phone co wouldn’t cut me off & hook me up when I wanted…they had to do it when they had time. So my phone therefore my dial up net service were over at my new place before I was.
I turned in my paperwork to be told it’d be 7-15 days at least…but I was expecting to move the next day. I couldn’t get my phone back for just 7-15 days. I’d already called utility co’s once to switch dates cuz the guy living there before me didn’t want to move out yet. And if the place failed in 7-15 days I’d have to do this again? Forget that. Between this & not finding anybody serious about helping me move I canceled losing $150-200 in the process. It’ll either take some surgeries or a caregiver for me to try this again.
I complained to HUD to be told I should’ve called them & they could’ve sent somebody there as an emergency type situation. First of all you don’t simply call any state agency or org. Second of all neither they nor THA tell people this…they don’t announce it…it’s not posted anywhere…how would I know to call them?
Of course HUD forwarded this on elsewhere…probably right back to THA. THA says perhaps their clerk made a little boo-boo but this is their policy & I should’ve been paying attention during the 2 hour meeting. Like I said I’ll require something before trying this again cuz I can’t afford their casual “oops”.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:45 AM
This is Austin’s Housing Authority: http://www.hacanet.org
And as you can see their section 8 list is closed.
The waiting list to get into one of their dumpy apartments is 3-5 years. Then they have rules…like you need a doctor’s note to have an adult child staying with you.