I would be very interested in seeing listings for $400/month. If you would be so kind as to give me links to such, I would be grateful and it might even help get a few homeless people off the street.
https://www.apartments.com/559-vincent-ave-bronx-ny/0kg0371/
Its not the south, but its detroit craigslist.
I see 2 ads for 500 dollars on the front page, both mention multiple bedrooms.
Have you tried craiglist in rural areas?
Most places do not have apartments at $500 per month. I am willing to talk about how to find a roommate situation in that price range, but most homeless people have special needs, whether medical or mental health, that make them unsuited to a roommate situation or a roommate situation unsuitable for them.
I am interested in specific names of cities, websites with good search parameters for finding such and other general advice on how to get it that low. I've done a lot of searching and listings that are substantially below $500 are pretty rare in my experience.
I'm happy to be proven wrong. I would like to do a write up on one of my blogs for where you can find truly cheap housing if you have portable income.
Thanks to folks who have already replied. Feel free to shoot me an email with such info to avoid cluttering up this discussion too much.
It was not the best housing, but a 2 bedroom duplex (only 1 half of the duplex was included, that half had 2 bedrooms, I don't know how many bedrooms were in the other half). Trash, electricity, and water were not included in this price.
How recently was this roughly?
The locals that are homeless here are not in that situation because of some fixable problem with a city policy. It's unanimously mental illness or drug problems, often both.
This is also the county seat, and where the welfare offices are located. 80% of the properties in the city are rentals, and there are multiple charity organizations that provide discount housing.
Homelessness is not a problem that will be eliminated until we no longer have people that cannot take care of themselves.
The bank never emailed me. I was unable to log in to my application for some reason to check it's status. I emailed a mortgage officer at the bank. They asked for my phone number. They never called me.
I have since decided I don't want a house in the burbs. I want to stay downtown. That's an entirely different process.
But I have earned income and decent credit and 6 years of college etc and I am finding it challenging to arrange to purchase real estate. I have had these conversations on HN before with people and it always seems to be an assertion that comes from privilege and cluelessness about what reality is like if your income is low.
I have done internet searches for dirt cheap housing across multiple states. The truly dirt cheap stuff frequently says stuff like "No foundation. Will not qualify for financing. Cash buyer only."
If I had a few $10k cash laying around, I would handily qualify for a conventional mortgage because that would cover down payment and closing costs. So, no, I can't buy the houses listed at a mere $10k or $20k that theoretically would have super low monthly payments because that just isn't how that works.
People who have challenges to taking care of themselves can sometimes manage it if they can arrange decent housing that is super cheap. I'm medically handicapped and I manage to work part time. I am currently in a super cheap rental and off the street.
I paid my student loan off last July and was in housing in early September. Student loans are a pox on this nation, impoverishing a great many people. You don't need to be mentally ill or addicted for that to be a huge and problematic burden.
I'm not asking you to solve homelessness. I'm just looking to crowdsource a little information. It would be nice if folks refrained from raining on my parade and trying to tell me to not bother to try to do anything about the problem.
Thanks.
I lived in a crappy apartment for 4 years while working my first real job to save up enough money for a down payment on a house.
I bought a house at age 27 with zero down and no money to cover closing costs. I know something about wheeling and dealing in real estate.
The fact that I was recently homeless is not evidence that I don't know anything about real estate. I had student loans and a lengthy health crisis.
To be as clear as possible, I wasn't describing the issues I have run into in order to indicate that I personally can't pull this off. Just describing what can be involved and trying to indicate that it can be a dead end for a lot of people with a low income. I don't expect it to be a dead end for me, though it has proven to be a speed bump.