Imagine you’re looking though the apartment ads in the local paper. You find the perfect place. It’s near your kid’s school, fits within your tight budgetary restrictions and is available right now.
In this rental market you know you’ll have to get there early to meet the landlord and compete with a half-dozen other people who saw the ad that day. But you want it bad enough that you’d get there hours ahead of time. Your mind darts off imagining if you can take off work and if you’ve saved enough money for first and last month’s rent. Your mind darts in another direction thinking about your kiddo playing in front of the big living room windows advertised in the paper.
Just then, your eyes drift down the page and you see: “Sorry, No Section 8.”
Your heart breaks because your Housing Choice voucher is the only way you could possible afford this place.
Until today, July 1, 2014, that was the reality for too many Oregonians. But thanks to advocacy from Oregon Housing Alliance members HB 2639 Section 8 voucher holder must be treated like any prospective tenant.
To celebrate we put together this little video:
For many, this is a big step toward inclusiveness and will open up the possibility a lot of desirable, affordable apartments.