DeafEskie’s Port Experience….

Today I would like to share with you my own personal experience moving from Oklahoma City, OK to my native Houston, TX utilizing the portability feature available with the HCV program. I discovered porting your voucher is nowhere as easy as it looks! In fact, it can be almost impossible. And most of all - it does not happen as quickly or as easily as it should.

For a long time, I had been considering returning back home to Houston due to health issues and missing my mom, and a couple of close friends. In April of this year, I received some very shocking and upsetting news - one of my best friends, who was my personal driver in Oklahoma City, decided to move to Nashville, TN, in order to be with his family. When they decided that he would be moving in June, I realized, the time has come for me to move, and I needed to act fast. Little did I know what was going to be up ahead!

At the end of April, my driver and I went to my local agency Oklahoma Housing and Financing Agency (OHFA) to turn in my request to port my voucher. My driver turned in a move-out notice at the same time. A couple weeks later, I received a letter from the team my case had been assigned to. I was so excited when I saw the OHFA return address that I ripped it open - only to discover that I had not been granted permission to move, because OHFA needed to complete annual inspection and  recertification of my HCV unit. When I saw that “rejection” letter I had no choice other than sit back, and wait for housing to get around to scheduling the annual inspection/recertification.

In mid-June, another letter arrived, giving me the date and time of my annual inspection - approximately a week and a half from the day I received the notice. Not much time, that’s for sure. So I hurriedly spent the following week cleaning the house and having the landlord do some necessary repairs. Inspection day arrives, sunny and hot, with very little breeze. To my utter surprise, this was the most complicated  inspection I ever experienced! The inspector really grilled me - asking each question no less than three times! After almost an hour of questioning, she then inspected the property - a two bedroom home, which I qualified for due to medical & disability reasons. She asked me to walk around with her as she inspected the unit. To my shock, and yes horror, she began to find faults with the home. Approximately 7 things needed to be fixed—most very minor - such as a stove burner not entirely functioning properly, a fan pull was tangled up, to one major issue - a brand new smoke alarm that decided to malfunction! Needless to say, the unit failed inspection. Inspections are a very important part of the HCV program, and I began to wonder if I would ever get to
Houston…..

Will be continued with Part 2