Yesterday I pulled in to a gas station.

Finding myself in a legitimately good disposition, (I had been working so hard through final week at school, and had found out I aced a couple of exams!). I got out of my car and walked to the pump and read out loud: “three-seventy-seven”.

An immediate turn for the worse: In my mind I pictured an empty wallet, a zero balance on my bank statement, my car stranded on the highway. Three-seventy-seven!?

I looked around at the dismal crowd pumping gas: A guy next to his Hummer banging his head against the bumper, a poor old lady at the cashier digging at the bottom of her purse for pennies. Expressions of defeat and surrender.

All over the news the anchors say how it is not going to get any better any time soon. There is a News Team at every gas station across the country focusing stage-center: those incredibly astronomical numbers. I sit at home and watch news story after news story, the apologetic expressions on Brian Willam’s face, Katie Couric’s regretful tone. And then the weather comes on and we can think about something else for a minute, but it is always hanging in the back of my mind.

I think of how it is spreading its effect all over. Food prices, air travel, recreation. An inflated taxation barrel hit the middle of a serene lake and its ripples are reaching the shores on all of our doorsteps. It’s an oil spill.

Whether I get political or not, one thing is for sure: Things have to change! Especially for those we dedicate this website: the assisted families, the ones in need of a helping hand out of poverty. How can we expect them to get better paying jobs when the facilitation works against them to even GET to their job? This is the reason why Section 8 was initially created, to address the inflation and rising costs of living.

I know I usually write blogs with the hopes of creating better days, instilling hope in the hearts of those disheartened. I would like to look the other way when I watch the news and tell myself, no , things WILL get better. The US will fight it, we’ll elect someone who will fight for us.

And then, the weather comes on.

Home ownership is one of the major focuses of HUD’s purpose.  It is paramount in the design towards the eventual self sufficiency of the tenants. 

If you are a tenant that wants more information on how HUD helps those who are interested in owning their own home, or if you are a landlord who wants to rent with option to buy and wants to help your tenants through the process, PLEASE CLICK HERE:  http://www.hud.gov/buying/  This page lists all the steps necessary to get started on the path to purchasing a home.

 Good Luck!!!

The more the government makes an investment into society, the more that success can breathe into the lives of those who benefit- especially when the investment puts primary importance towards the long term. I am always pleased to read news about government funded grants being awarded to programs (like HUD) that are aimed at lifting poverty- stricken US citizens from the burdens of being unskilled and uneducated.  What the government is trying to tell them, and all of us, is that there is hope and a solution.

There is a special grant that is awarded to Housing Authorities that succeed in placing their primary focus on the eventual self-sufficiency of living assisted tenants.  It is called ROSS (Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency Program). On March 4^th, 2008, a $50 million grant was awarded to Housing Authorities across the United States.   The larger portion of the grant money will be used to supplement already existing programs that provide job and computer training to assisted residents and their families, as well as home-ownership counseling.  The smaller portion of the grant will go towards the disabled and elderly residents, and will provide them with health and wellness programs, meal services and transportation to medical services. 

 
I often wonder if the assisted residents know about all of the options there are for them, and that there are so many people working in the system for them with the same primary focus: to help them eventually become successful members in our society.  They should know and they should be told!

I would like to dedicate this Blog to all of the decision makers and planners, all of those who implement and all those accountable for conceiving the vision of such a large scale and universal design for success.  Cheers! 

I know I wasn’t the only one that woke up last Friday morning with an odd feeling in the back of my mind. I saw it all over the morning news, confirming that today doesn’t really exist. It’s an anomaly, a once-every-four-years chance to break free from normality and quite possibly, every existing responsibility. Fat chance!

Normal day: Get up, go to work. Okay.

But then the troublesome phone calls started pouring in all over the country from concerned Housing Authorities. We were going crazy trying to figure out why they were receiving error messages when trying to navigate through their portals on the site. Our Gosection8 Programming Team investigated and brainstormed. Nothing was wrong with the codes, the links, the very structure that makes our site the best site it can be. We weren’t responsible. Then who was?

Microsoft. That’s who!

You would think that the smartest people on the planet (excluding the Gosection8 Team and all of you reading this, of course!) would be in favor of yielding to the ever-sensitive schedule of the seasons, stars and the universe, of all other things! (FYI: Leap year was created to accommodate the length of the solar year, which is slightly less than 365¼ days—by about 11 minutes. To compensate for this discrepancy, the leap year is omitted three times every four hundred years.)

Server errors, glitches, maladies, inefficiencies- in the system we rely on, all the cause for the disruption on this day, that we all just wanted to go away, anyway!

Well, they have four more years to get it right. We will see.

Hello!

As you guys have already seen  in one of my previous posts, I explained in depth about HUD’s ulterior motive that lies behind the bureaucracy and technicalities of the whole Section 8 system and process. (See blog post “Idealism and Section8 – it Works!”) In that post, I revealed that the directive is mainly idealistic and pointed towards progress. But, that wasn’t the whole story!

HUD, (The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development) has its side jobs too!

Sticking to the objective of trying to save the world through the development of affordable housing, HUD has subsidiaries with a similar aim, but on the educational level.

The goal is to integrate computer technology into the lives of assisted tenants and their children. It is now well-known that mostly everything is done on the computer and online. Most correspondence is performed through email, and almost every prospective employer requires of their employees full knowledge of various and complex computer applications. That’s where Neighborhood Networks comes in.

1995 – Around that time is when we can safely say that the internet started booming. And that is when the future of technological advances could be seen far off- especially in the eyes of the HUD/Section 8 visionaries. It was in this year that HUD developed Neighborhood Networks.

HUD is proud to claim Neighborhood Networks as one of the first federally funded initiatives dedicated towards the prospect of the self sufficiency of housing assistance recipients. The program’s main goals are to: “Improve computer access, advance literacy, prepare residents to take advantage of employment opportunities and to provide access to healthcare information and other social services.” The program even offers after-school programs for children and career counseling for adults!

More than a decade later, this widely successful program can be found in Housing Authorities and in other privately and publicly funded locations all over the country!

If you readers were not privy of this information beforehand, I will refer you to the website where you can read up on new developments, and find a location near you!

Click here for all the info you need:

http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/mfh/nnw/nnwindex.cfm

End note to Landlords: By sharing this information, it is my hope that I will transfer some of my feelings of social responsibility and maybe you will share this information to your future section8 tenants! What do you have to lose?

-V

I am excited today! Here at the Gosection8 Home Office we are implementing new systems that are certain to generate the best possible and most efficient customer service EVER! Not that there was anything wrong with our system before, of course, but it is in accordance with the belief that a company should always be on the move towards being more effective and proficient, especially in the constantly progressing and ever-changing/improving world that we live in today.

(Read: And we are not trying to replace customer service with a machine, either. You can always call to talk with a human being. You never fail to humor me with a breathless and ever so relieved : “Ah! A human!”)

Basically, with this new system, each one of your issues and questions will be awarded a “ticket” and organized and addressed accordingly. Mostly, this step up in organization will help us to help YOU better. We want all your problems solved, in a time-efficient way, and with, of course, a touch of sparkling personality!

Up and Coming:

Currently, I am doing research for some new topics that I want to write to you about. And yes, they are progressive. Mostly, I want to focus on how Landlords can contribute to the betterment of tenant’s lives, and how tenants may help themselves. I heard from a very wise former President of the United States (I am sure you can figure that one out!  HINT:  He just wrote a book on this subject!) that charity is truly the best portal to happiness. And aren’t we all, as humans , all just on the move towards being more effective and proficient, in an ever-changing/improving world that we live in today? Something to think about….

-V

Valentine’s Day:

A time honored tradition where your significant other fills your heart with love, showers you with chocolates (ouch! weight gain!), flowers (like you don’t have allergies?) and jewelry, (and, of course , you’ll be writing the check for the credit card payment every month!) on this special day!!

We all hope today brings much love and joy to everyone!

Today, like everyday,  the GO8 team is at work, always here to address any of your questions and concerns.  Please do not hesitate to contact us by email or phone.

Email: admin@gosection8.com

Phone:  866-466-7328

Hello! I am an employee here at Gosection8.com and I am also a new blogger! This will certainly prove beneficial to you- as you are the users of the website, and from my knowledge, you are also very hungry for all of the information you can get on the whole Section 8 process. I am the best candidate for this job because I am basically on the frontlines, all day and everyday, answering questions and helping both Landlords and Tenants with their issues.

This is an optimal space where I can address universal and general questions, like “How do I list my property?” and “How do I find a property?”, as well as other very interesting and helpful topics.

But first things first. I would like to be a bit progressive here and move beyond these technicalities for now. Let us fast-forward to one of the most frequently asked questions:

“Does my property have to be in a certain area to qualify to rent to a section 8 tenant?”

The answer, of course, is no*, and have you ever wondered why? Have you ever wondered upon the initial and ongoing intentions of the Section 8 program? Without being too political, I will give you the rundown.

Government programs in the past, such as Welfare , have received many criticisms for allegedly locking low-income families in a slow economic downward spiral, by keeping the recipients dependent upon the government for living assistance. The recipients were indirectly discouraged to obtain and retain steady full time jobs. If their income was too high they would then lose their living assistance. Thankfully, the program has been changed so drastically, it now has a different name, and different playing rules. However, Section 8 Housing (HUD) assistance has by far exceeded the progress of these new programs, because of its underlying intentions.

Take a look at a part of the mission statement:

“HUD’s mission is to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination.”

Instead of keeping tenants dependant upon government assistance, HUD maintains the objective to consistently improve the quality of life of the recipients, so that they can succeed without assistance in the future.

And this brings me back to the question: “Why are there little to no restrictions as to where a section 8 tenant can live?” The answer is progressive and optimistic:

By having little to no restrictions on the area a section8 tenant lives, the program gives the tenants an opportunity to live in better and safer areas, as to not be surrounded by the influences of a potentially negative environment. This objective is especially beneficial to the children who are living with assisted parents. They will have the opportunity to grow up in a positive and prolific environment, having also the opportunity to go to better schools, and ultimately ensuring their success.

(*In fact, if a property and landlord come to be restricted from renting to a section 8 recipient, it means the area is a BAD area, and not suitable for living.)

Now this leads me to an ulterior motive of MINE. (Ha, didn’t think I had one did you?)

The reason why I wanted to share this information is really to commend the Landlords who make this all possible. Without you, this program would not be possible!

My hope is that this Blog will reach those Landlords who’s intentions to rent out to section 8 recipients was, in the past, solely for the guarantee of a rent check in their pocket every month.  My wish is that they can now see the good they are doing for the progress of an improved society- on a local AND national level. So let me close this installment with a well deserved ThankYou! to the Landlords, on behalf of everyone here at Gosection8.com. Until next time..

-V

Tip du jour. Don’t use dryer sheets, especially if you or your family members have respiratory problems. Most fabric softeners are full of phthalates, chloroform, camphor, and other chemicals that can damage the respiratory, nervous, and reproductive systems, according to the EPA. Their fumes are released through a dryer’s vent–and because the substances on the sheets aren’t rinsed out as with the liquid kind, clothes stay coated with the toxins. Isn’t that disgusting…!

Tip du jour. Read about a LL who refused to take checks because “I don’t want to chase ‘em down if the checks bounce. Only cash, money order, cashier’s check for me.” I wonder how often he gets paid in rolls of coins…

Tip du jour. It is rare today for me to receive maintenance calls, because we make semi-annual inspections as well as thorough reviews when units turnover. We work hard to make sure the units are in good condition at all times, plus we try to respond quickly to any issues during tenancies.

Tip du jour. I scan my applications onto my hard drive, and shred the hardcopy – this way I can store and recover any application any time. I think the required ‘save’ time is five years.

Tip du jour. Have quarterly unit inspections and check SA batteries during your inspection routine. Make sure that your tenant sees that you are checking the batteries…keep some Smoke Alarms with you to immediately replace those that have failed. Also have a supply of 9v batteries with you during the inspections. If you make a practice of replacing the batteries every 6-9 months, there will be no reason for the tenants to use the excuse that “it was chirping so I had to disconnect it.”

Dryer Vent & Exhaust - Clean the pipe every 3 to 6 months. Snake a round brush with long, flexible piping (about $20 at hardware stores) into the tube to pull out lint clinging to the sides. If you can’t get all the way through from one end, you may need to pull sections of the pipe apart–or hire a professional duct cleaner. Always vent your dryer to an open outdoor area otherwise the moisture will end up causing wood rot, mold, mildew, etc.