Government-Assisted Housing: The Basics
If you are a low-income person or household and you are looking for affordable rental housing in your area, you may want to apply for government-assisted housing. The federal government funds most government-assisted housing programs. They have many rules about who can and can’t live there, including a lot of rules about how a criminal record affects your ability to live there (read about those rules and exclusions on PG. 357). Government-assisted housing is designed for low-income people.
For some government-assisted housing programs, the government runs the housing facilities and EVERYTHING about the housing application process. For other federally assisted housing programs, the government works with private companies or private owners/landlords who run their own facilities and have their own separate application process from the government.
Government-assisted housing could be short-term, long-term, an apartment, a house, a shelter, or a transitional housing program with services.