A lot of people on SSI live in low income housing for this very reason. For low income housing(tax credit building) they only require people to make 1.5 the rent. That’s what many of us disabled folks have to do. I highly recommend looking into REACH housing. They have many affordable apartments in Portland. That’s unfortunately your best bet unless you are accepted to Section 8(Home Forward which does have years long wait lists.)
AFAIK Section 8 isn’t even accepting people onto *the wait list.*
There was something last year if I’m remembering right, where you could put your info into essentially a lottery to be added to the wait list - which is years long, of course. Not a lottery for Section 8… a lottery to *wait years for Section 8.* Because the waitlist is closed otherwise.
Disability/low income services in this country are a disgrace.
LITC housing is different than Section 8
Section 8 is a voucher program where you can live anywhere you want with subsidized rent
LITC housing is housing that follows income guidelines to rent to lower income households
Then some housing has subsidized rent built into the property and rent is 1/3 of income
I ran LITC housing and we had 36 units of RD subsidies housing
I took section 8 vouchers at my complex
I work maintenance at a low income housing property and there is no income requirements. Rent is %30 of any income you make though. But if you have no income you can still get housing. That's what I thought my manager told me anyways.
That may be the case for your property but that’s not how it is for all low income housing in Portland. For REACH low income housing there is income requirements and the only way someone’s rent is 30 percent of their income is if they have a voucher through Home Forward or something. For all low income apartments through REACH your income does have to be 1.5 the rent to qualify for an apartment.
You can also search the properties on REACH. There are several different apartments that have immediate availability right now. I live in a REACH property and I know for a fact that there are available units right now in a couple different properties including mine.
Home Forward is Section 8 and REACH is not
Section 8. REACH is low income housing. You can go to the REACH housing website on google and read about it yourself :)
I've seen at least one apartment complex saying if you don't make 2x the rent they'd still consider you but you'd have a higher deposit. So there's at least an option. I don't remember where I saw that unfortunately. It was an apartment property management company.
That is true for SSDI (disability payment for people under 62), not SSI (Social Security benefits for people 62 and older). Just to clarify. I don't know which one the OP has.
I managed to get on a few downtown, Homeforward apartment waitlist, when they opened the lottery 2 November's ago.. I checked my status this week- #181, #167, #139. In 16+ months I don't think I've moved up much at all.
When I was trying to co-signer was trying to help my sister, 2 different apartment complexes required me to make 5X the rent, independent of my sisters income. I was dumbfounded.
No, they don't assume that. The requirement is typically higher for a co-signer if they are not going to reside in the property, as the landlord may view this as an added risk. Having an income requirement of 5x the rent is on the higher end of the spectrum, but it is not unheard of, especially in more competitive rental markets or for luxury apartments. 2x-3x is generally more common.
Low income apartments
https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-search/Oregon/Portland
https://www.forrent.com/find/OR/metro-Portland/Portland/beds-studio/extras-Income+Restricted
Call the properties directly to get on their waitlist. Also the property management companies often list all their buildings and availabilities on their website. Income Property Management isn't the best, but as an example
https://www.ipmco.com/portland-apartments-for-rent
The 2.5 thing comes from the standard rule that you shouldn’t be spending more than 1/3 of your income on rent/mortgage per month. So by making sure people make at least 2.5, they are essentially trying to confirm the people who apply to live there can afford it. This has become more and more standard at places since there were so many non-payment issues during COVID and Landlords not being able to evict people. Just Landlords trying to do their due diligence. Will probably need to find a roommate scenario or try to find low income housing (even a lot of low income housing is still expensive if you’re on a fixed government income).
This is sort of true.
But! Up until around 2010, _most_ screening criteria used to be 3x monthly rent in income (before taxes) because that aligns with the conventional wisdom.
They reduced it to 2.5 times rent because no one qualified under the old rules.
They also stopped including medical debt as “bad credit” for the same reason.
I’ve lived in Portland my whole life and while I had to show proof of income at some rentals, I didn’t have to show it at all rentals. And the 2.5x thing literally never once was a requirement for me until I was looking for a place in 2021. Maybe I just got lucky, but I think a lot of places in Portland were more relaxed - also likely depends on who you’re renting from, I’ve historically always leased houses not apartments.
Ok. Well, I worked in multi-family housing in and around the Portland metro from ‘96-04 and ‘10-18 for a few different local companies. Without exception, they all used standard templates from [https://www.multifamilynw.org/](https://www.multifamilynw.org/)
Totally understand that your experience was different, I worked for larger local companies but there used to be a lot more property management companies back then (like there used to be different banks and grocery stores).
Smaller landlords didn’t focus/check on income requirements as much until many of the rent stabilization laws (such as requiring that they rent to the first applicant that qualifies). The renting process has become more complicated and many small landlords have turned management over to larger management companies - which has increased costs and rents.
Most landlords and property managers choose to verify income as part of the tenant screening process to ensure that potential tenants have the financial stability to afford the rent. Some jurisdictions have rules around the maximum allowable rent-to-income ratio to ensure housing remains affordable and will limit how much a landlord can require, but the minimum requirement is really up to each individual landlord's discretion, and their criteria needs to be applied consistently to all applicants to avoid discriminatory practices.
Generally, most require between 2x - 3x but in more competitive rental markets or for luxury apartments, they can require as much as 5x. The screening process isn't universal across all property managers and landlords. Some are willing to work with their tenants if they don't meet the salary requirements, but I imagine the majority would rather not take that risk.
I highly doubt that you got lucky and your landlords intentionally chose to overlook your income or forgot to ask you for proof. They were probably able to verify it by calling and asking your employer directly when performing a background check, and/or used the information from your credit report and rental history to get an idea of how much rent you can afford.
Exactly. Rent works sort of like credit in this sense, because you can't just kick people out if they can't pay so the landlord loses. Just like a bank would lose if you couldn't pay your mortgage or your credit card bill. And you cannot get a $10k credit line if your income is $10k/year. This question is sort of like asking "how do i buy something i can't afford' or "how am I supposed to live on SSI in an expensive city?"
People on ssi have to ask that though. If you have no support from family, how are you supposed to move to another city with no car, $900 a month, and no savings allowed? They’re asking “how do I survive on this,” which is the question they have to ask. And the answer is “it is transparently impossible without more assistance from somewhere.” This country is a horrible place to be disabled.
>Just like a bank would lose if you couldn't pay your mortgage
I'm not sure they're "losing" nearly as much as your other examples, as they can use the Foreclosure process to force a sale of the collateral assets (house) to collect what they're owed. Your other two examples don't have anywhere near the same leverage.
Yeah try evicting someone in Multnomah County for not paying rent, you’re looking at a minimum 6 month process, they’re protecting themselves
COVID non payment definitely put a sour taste in a lot of small landlord’s mouth’s
You have get into low income housing. The waitlists for section 8 are closed but they might have other programs that you qualify for.
https://www.homeforward.org/contact-us/
https://www.washingtoncountyor.gov/housing
https://www.clackamas.us/housingauthority
Call coordinated housing access for Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. Washington and Clackamas are more available and quicker than Multnomah.
I have a couple rooms for rent coming up in the house I'm in. Hit me up if you're interested. It's between downtown and St John's backing up to forest park. But the house is more and more expensive every year so at this point I need about 1k per room to cover rent and bills. Maybe 1800 for both. My roommate just told me yesterday she's moving out of the two rooms to get her and her boys into a more expensive apartment closer to her work in Beaverton. My daughter lives with me 1/2 the time so you'd have to be a reasonable person, family oriented or understanding at least.
A lot of people on SSI live in low income housing for this very reason. For low income housing(tax credit building) they only require people to make 1.5 the rent. That’s what many of us disabled folks have to do. I highly recommend looking into REACH housing. They have many affordable apartments in Portland. That’s unfortunately your best bet unless you are accepted to Section 8(Home Forward which does have years long wait lists.)
AFAIK Section 8 isn’t even accepting people onto *the wait list.* There was something last year if I’m remembering right, where you could put your info into essentially a lottery to be added to the wait list - which is years long, of course. Not a lottery for Section 8… a lottery to *wait years for Section 8.* Because the waitlist is closed otherwise. Disability/low income services in this country are a disgrace.
LITC housing is different than Section 8 Section 8 is a voucher program where you can live anywhere you want with subsidized rent LITC housing is housing that follows income guidelines to rent to lower income households Then some housing has subsidized rent built into the property and rent is 1/3 of income I ran LITC housing and we had 36 units of RD subsidies housing I took section 8 vouchers at my complex
I work maintenance at a low income housing property and there is no income requirements. Rent is %30 of any income you make though. But if you have no income you can still get housing. That's what I thought my manager told me anyways.
That may be the case for your property but that’s not how it is for all low income housing in Portland. For REACH low income housing there is income requirements and the only way someone’s rent is 30 percent of their income is if they have a voucher through Home Forward or something. For all low income apartments through REACH your income does have to be 1.5 the rent to qualify for an apartment.
That makes sense. If it helps anyone, I work for NWRECC if you want to search their properties.
You can also search the properties on REACH. There are several different apartments that have immediate availability right now. I live in a REACH property and I know for a fact that there are available units right now in a couple different properties including mine.
What's the difference between REACH and Home Forward?
Home Forward is Section 8 and REACH is not Section 8. REACH is low income housing. You can go to the REACH housing website on google and read about it yourself :)
Second this. I also live in a REACH building.
I don't think there are any market rate apartments you can afford on $900 SSI so you're going to need roommates or subsidized housing regardless
my studio behind a factory is 835 a month. and people keep telling me that I got a deal
When I first moved to Portland in 2007 I rented a studio for $400
So much want.
I've seen at least one apartment complex saying if you don't make 2x the rent they'd still consider you but you'd have a higher deposit. So there's at least an option. I don't remember where I saw that unfortunately. It was an apartment property management company.
Unfortunately we don't allow people on SSI to have savings. If you have anything more than $2000 you lose your meager benefits.
That is true for SSDI (disability payment for people under 62), not SSI (Social Security benefits for people 62 and older). Just to clarify. I don't know which one the OP has.
I managed to get on a few downtown, Homeforward apartment waitlist, when they opened the lottery 2 November's ago.. I checked my status this week- #181, #167, #139. In 16+ months I don't think I've moved up much at all.
Do you have anyone who can act as a cosigner?
When I was trying to co-signer was trying to help my sister, 2 different apartment complexes required me to make 5X the rent, independent of my sisters income. I was dumbfounded.
I wonder if they assume that a co-signer has to pay for their own place too so they better be making bank.
No, they don't assume that. The requirement is typically higher for a co-signer if they are not going to reside in the property, as the landlord may view this as an added risk. Having an income requirement of 5x the rent is on the higher end of the spectrum, but it is not unheard of, especially in more competitive rental markets or for luxury apartments. 2x-3x is generally more common.
Oh wow. The last time I got a cosigner was in 2009 so makes sense that things could have changed.
I’m sure every place is different. But good lord.
Low income apartments https://affordablehousingonline.com/housing-search/Oregon/Portland https://www.forrent.com/find/OR/metro-Portland/Portland/beds-studio/extras-Income+Restricted Call the properties directly to get on their waitlist. Also the property management companies often list all their buildings and availabilities on their website. Income Property Management isn't the best, but as an example https://www.ipmco.com/portland-apartments-for-rent
Twenty-six roommates
I was in the same predicament. I had to have my son co-sign.
The 2.5 thing comes from the standard rule that you shouldn’t be spending more than 1/3 of your income on rent/mortgage per month. So by making sure people make at least 2.5, they are essentially trying to confirm the people who apply to live there can afford it. This has become more and more standard at places since there were so many non-payment issues during COVID and Landlords not being able to evict people. Just Landlords trying to do their due diligence. Will probably need to find a roommate scenario or try to find low income housing (even a lot of low income housing is still expensive if you’re on a fixed government income).
This is sort of true. But! Up until around 2010, _most_ screening criteria used to be 3x monthly rent in income (before taxes) because that aligns with the conventional wisdom. They reduced it to 2.5 times rent because no one qualified under the old rules. They also stopped including medical debt as “bad credit” for the same reason.
I’ve lived in Portland my whole life and while I had to show proof of income at some rentals, I didn’t have to show it at all rentals. And the 2.5x thing literally never once was a requirement for me until I was looking for a place in 2021. Maybe I just got lucky, but I think a lot of places in Portland were more relaxed - also likely depends on who you’re renting from, I’ve historically always leased houses not apartments.
Ok. Well, I worked in multi-family housing in and around the Portland metro from ‘96-04 and ‘10-18 for a few different local companies. Without exception, they all used standard templates from [https://www.multifamilynw.org/](https://www.multifamilynw.org/) Totally understand that your experience was different, I worked for larger local companies but there used to be a lot more property management companies back then (like there used to be different banks and grocery stores).
Smaller landlords didn’t focus/check on income requirements as much until many of the rent stabilization laws (such as requiring that they rent to the first applicant that qualifies). The renting process has become more complicated and many small landlords have turned management over to larger management companies - which has increased costs and rents.
Most landlords and property managers choose to verify income as part of the tenant screening process to ensure that potential tenants have the financial stability to afford the rent. Some jurisdictions have rules around the maximum allowable rent-to-income ratio to ensure housing remains affordable and will limit how much a landlord can require, but the minimum requirement is really up to each individual landlord's discretion, and their criteria needs to be applied consistently to all applicants to avoid discriminatory practices. Generally, most require between 2x - 3x but in more competitive rental markets or for luxury apartments, they can require as much as 5x. The screening process isn't universal across all property managers and landlords. Some are willing to work with their tenants if they don't meet the salary requirements, but I imagine the majority would rather not take that risk. I highly doubt that you got lucky and your landlords intentionally chose to overlook your income or forgot to ask you for proof. They were probably able to verify it by calling and asking your employer directly when performing a background check, and/or used the information from your credit report and rental history to get an idea of how much rent you can afford.
Exactly. Rent works sort of like credit in this sense, because you can't just kick people out if they can't pay so the landlord loses. Just like a bank would lose if you couldn't pay your mortgage or your credit card bill. And you cannot get a $10k credit line if your income is $10k/year. This question is sort of like asking "how do i buy something i can't afford' or "how am I supposed to live on SSI in an expensive city?"
People on ssi have to ask that though. If you have no support from family, how are you supposed to move to another city with no car, $900 a month, and no savings allowed? They’re asking “how do I survive on this,” which is the question they have to ask. And the answer is “it is transparently impossible without more assistance from somewhere.” This country is a horrible place to be disabled.
>Just like a bank would lose if you couldn't pay your mortgage I'm not sure they're "losing" nearly as much as your other examples, as they can use the Foreclosure process to force a sale of the collateral assets (house) to collect what they're owed. Your other two examples don't have anywhere near the same leverage.
Yeah try evicting someone in Multnomah County for not paying rent, you’re looking at a minimum 6 month process, they’re protecting themselves COVID non payment definitely put a sour taste in a lot of small landlord’s mouth’s
You have get into low income housing. The waitlists for section 8 are closed but they might have other programs that you qualify for. https://www.homeforward.org/contact-us/ https://www.washingtoncountyor.gov/housing https://www.clackamas.us/housingauthority
Call coordinated housing access for Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. Washington and Clackamas are more available and quicker than Multnomah.
Ty. I will do so tomorrow.
Photoshop.
You can also show a retirement account/401k/savings account with 3x months rent in it. Thats how I’ve always done it.
I don’t think people on SSI are allowed to have those things, or else they get kicked off SSI.
Maybe it's not a good idea to rent a place you can't really afford?
..... it's not even 8am and this is going to be the most ignorant thing I read all day.
Yes ofcourse. My bad. Spending 50%+ of your income on rent is a great idea. Highly sustainable.
You're digging yourself deeper.
Great argument!
I have a couple rooms for rent coming up in the house I'm in. Hit me up if you're interested. It's between downtown and St John's backing up to forest park. But the house is more and more expensive every year so at this point I need about 1k per room to cover rent and bills. Maybe 1800 for both. My roommate just told me yesterday she's moving out of the two rooms to get her and her boys into a more expensive apartment closer to her work in Beaverton. My daughter lives with me 1/2 the time so you'd have to be a reasonable person, family oriented or understanding at least.
You will have to apply for Section 8 housing, and wait until your number is called.
You need to get on Section 8!
There's a years long wait list that's not even open.