So I'm checking out income restricted senior housing

[TexasBushwhacker]

I'm only 58, but most of the senior apartment complexes accept 55+ and the nice ones have waiting lists. So even though I'm not really looking to move from the apartment I'm in, I figure getting on some waiting lists would be a good idea.

Except

I called one place to find out their income guidelines and I would just barely hit the upper limit. Sweet! But to get on the waiting list I have to pay $100. Considering this is a tax subsidized property geared to seniors, I found this odd. Has anyone experienced this?

[hollysmom]

1. don't know, but at 70, guess I should start.

There is a limited income apartment house over the park. Turns out my neighbor is on the board and she said I would not fit in. so I guess she would not vote for me. I need something not so income limited, but stll reasonable. some of the ones Ilike aroudn here start at 3/4 of a million, a bit out of my range,ha ha

[TexasBushwhacker]

2. My aunt and uncle moved into an assisted living place

when they were about 70. Neither of them needed day to day assistance at the time but things like keeping up the house and yard were getting to be too much. The place is all inclusive. They have a tiny kitchen in their apartment, but most if the time they eat in the cafeteria, which is really more like a restaurant. Once they got settled in and started making some friends they wondered why they hadn't moved earlier. I'm sure it's not cheap, but they were retired public school principals so it can't be all that expensive.

It's interesting that your neighbor said you wouldn't fit in. Was this a neighbor you liked? LOL

[hollysmom]

3. I live in a republican town, my political signs are always missing the next day.

I think I am a nice person, but the horrid creatures that moved next door (not the same neighbor ) hate me and call me an old biddy. they have total disrespect on my land,and constantly try and build on it. they had their contractor store stuff on my property because I used to be at work all day (I won't go into the stolen garbage cans and the crap they threw on my lawn when remodeling. ) that time I didn't care how tired I was, I hauled all the roofing tiles out front and put a sign out saying free roof tiles - it was on my property, I had a right to do it. Never heard from them. but they were gone by morning. Asking did not help, I had to involve the police when more stuff appeared on my lawn. But everyone else in the neighborhood seems to like me. the woman in the back, we never see each other much, I just asked not to be invited to her republican fund raisers any more.

[kacekwl]

4. Yes

I was told had to pay 100.00 to be put on the waiting list. ( Illinois ) Did not pay at this time. Would love to move into cheaper housing since my wife can no longer work but there is no way to come up with 1st and last mo. rent .... security deposit .... truck rental etc. let alone 100.00 wait list. The poor stay poor right.

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. I admit I am lucky

I don't know why, but the whole first + last + deposit has just never caught on in Texas. Most of the time it's first month's rent plus a security deposit of up to 1 month's rent if you have bad credit, broken leases or evictions. The deposit on my apartment was $150, but they made me pay $300 because I had only been at my job 4 months. Most of the income restricted senior properties have reasonable deposits. I think they have to keep deposits low to get he tax breaks that enable them to charge reduced rents. Plus, seniors are generally good twnants who stick around.

[glinda]

10. My MIL just paid $1000 to be on one.

[SheilaT]

11. Where?

And is that money refundable? Or credited to the first month's rent?

[glinda]

12. Twin Cities, MN. I am not sure actually. The place is highly rated though

and a continuum of care. The big thing is that it is run by both Episcopal and Catholic and there would be a lot of connections for her. It is hard to get into also. Good ratings for a long time now.

[SheilaT]

13. Glad to hear it has a good rep.

But if the deposit money is non-refundable, that would be a shame.

[TexasBushwhacker]

21. If you decide you don't want an apartment, it is refundable. n/t

[ellenrr]

15. I only had to pay one month rent, plus the rent for when I moved in.

that sounds like a rip-off to me.

[SheilaT]

6. You might want to ask a whole lot more questions.

Why, exactly, is there a fee to be on the wait list?

Who actually owns the complexes? Are they privately owned or run by a non-profit or perhaps your city or county? These things are going to be different in different places because of different sorts of laws. Do try to visit some of the complexes and talk to some of the tenants, find out just what it's like to live there.

How long ago were they built? How well maintained are they? How often do they need to evict tenants? What's the suicide rate like? That last is important, because a friend used to live in a similar income restricted senior housing in my city (Santa Fe) and she was quite astonished by the rather high number of suicides there.

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. I'm only looking at apartments built in the last 10 years

But yes, I will be asking a lot of questions. Thanks for your suggestions.

[ellenrr]

16. SheilaT, do you know anything about senior subsidized living in Albuquerque?

I am on the waiting list for that.
Would love to correspond with someone if you happen to know anyone there.
That is weird about Santa Fe- was the high number higher than normal for seniors?

[SheilaT]

19. Ellenrr, so sorry but I'm clueless about

subsidized senior living in ABQ. I did a quick Google, and got several hits. Possibly the most useful would be the Albuquerque Housing Authority: http://www.cabq.gov/albuquerque-housing-authority/eligibility-for-programs

I do know that actual eligibility for the programs are connected to your income, and if you have more than their max, you may not be eligible. But contact them because for all I know there are lots of exceptions.

In general, ABQ is a relatively low cost of housing city. Even Santa Fe is nowhere near as expensive as people assume. They just think it is because we have all the movie stars and other rich people who live here.

I have no idea if the suicides I refer to reflect a higher than normal rate or not. I'm only reporting what a particular friend who lived in a specific complex reported. Another friend now lives in that same place (first friend moved to another state to be nearer family) and has never said anything about such things.

What we do have here in New Mexico is quite a bit of income restricted housing. All new developments -- and this has been true for sometime before I moved here in 2008 -- are required to have some percentage of affordable housing incorporated. This includes both rentals and for sale units. In fact, my little townhouse that I bought in 2009, that's part of a 35 or so unit development, was originally an affordable housing unit. Once they are first sold that way, in any subsequent sales they simply become part of the regular resale market. One way to tell the affordable units in a development is that they will be the ones with a one-car garage or perhaps no garage at all, and are the smallest units. In my little development all the garages are one-car, and one of these days I'll have to walk through and see just how many are identical to mine.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. Well, the good news is

The good news is that I just barely qualify for the subsidized housing. The better news is that I only have to qualify once, so if my income goes up they won't kick me out or double my rent.

The bad news is that there are 2 complexes that are close to where I work 3 days a week. 1 has good reviews but very strange floor plans with no dining room. They have the floorplan showing barstools at a kitchen counter. What were they thinking? How many elderly people want to sit on a barstool?

The other complex has floor plans that will work for me, but, for the most part, they have terrible reviews. Oy!

[SheilaT]

9. Visit and talk to the tenants.

Sometimes bad reviews for apartments are simply tenants who were unhappy about things that won't matter to you. Or maybe it's a genuine problem, like high crime in that area. That last happened to my son when his dad and stepmother found him his first apartment, and chose it because they thought the location was a good one and it wasn't very expensive. His first week the head unit was stolen from his car. When I looked at the reviews I was horrified, because high crime in the parking lot was something many tenants mentioned.

Nothing else of his was ever stolen, so far as I know, and he has long since moved elsewhere.

[ellenrr]

17. Tecas, where do you find reviews? If I wrote a review for where I am

I would have to say upfront that I HATE it, but that is due to my nature, not to the place. I am a solitary person, used to live in garage apartments, and loved that.
Lived alone. Did not have to see someone unless I wanted to.

Here, every time I go in and out, I have to pass people.
I'm sure for some people that is an advantage. For me - even tho most people are pleasant, and I can get by with a "fine, how are you?" and keep moving, to me it is hellish to be on intimate physical footing with so many people.

But this place is very clean, no bugs.

A friend told me her parents (in their '90's) live in Toronto in senior housing and they have cockroaches!! Can you image - 90 years old and killing cockroaches. She said the building does not do anything about it. I suggested she write a letter to the newspaper, and that might bring results -- or even a local tv human interest story.

Fixing things takes longer than I'd like.

all in all, I can say it is way better than being homeless. And that is the best thing I can say about it. I have heat and ac. Not very effective, not easy to adjust but -- hey, even tho I am very poor - I still live better than 80% of the world.

The worst thing about being here, and being poor, is - no choice. No choice in where I live, no choice in which apartment I live. You take what you get. If I don't like it, I can move into my car. That is the only choice.

The best thing about it is, it is very quiet.

[TexasBushwhacker]

20. You can review them on Yelp, Google

and any apartment renting site like Apartments. com, apartmentguide .com, etc. In fact, just Google your apartment + your city + "reviews" and it should take you to several review sites

[ellenrr]

22. I'm not sure they would do HUD bldgs, but I'll check it. thanks. nt

[ellenrr]

14. I think this is probably illegal

I was on the waiting list for where I am now, and am on the list for Albuquerque and for Hawaii.
This place sends out lists of waiting lists open
Affordable Housing Online <[e-mail]>

[ellenrr]

18. another thing to ask is about what "entertainment"

Where my friend live they have a book discussion club.
another place I heard about the residents put on plays.

where I am has nothing like this.

Where I am also has a lot of people who are here not for age, not for physical disability, but bec. the half-way houses were closed and those residents came here.

so there are a lot of people who stare off into nothingness, are drugged, are zombified. Not all of them but some.
I am not against emotionally impaired people having housing - good housing - but it saddens me to see spaced-out people.