Rental for 5 person family close to West Sac on budget (Sacramento: section 8, apartments)

[tahitiangreen]

My family of five will be moving to Sacramento in December. I will be attending Wyotech in West Sacramento. I need help finding rentals in areas that are near a good elementary school and safe. Other than price, those are our only necessities. I will have to be at school at 6:30 in the morning, so commute time needs to be under 30 minutes, preferably less. Not concerned with activities, but around other small kids would be nice. Since I will be going to school full time, only my husband will be working, providing for 5 people on one income, so price is a major concern. This is our first time in Sac and we'll have to find a place before we move, so any advice would be great.

[jribe]

Originally Posted by tahitiangreen

My family of five will be moving to Sacramento in December. I will be attending Wyotech in West Sacramento. I need help finding rentals in areas that are near a good elementary school and safe. Other than price, those are our only necessities. I will have to be at school at 6:30 in the morning, so commute time needs to be under 30 minutes, preferably less. Not concerned with activities, but around other small kids would be nice. Since I will be going to school full time, only my husband will be working, providing for 5 people on one income, so price is a major concern. This is our first time in Sac and we'll have to find a place before we move, so any advice would be great.

you need to state how much you can afford before anyone can begin to help you. Check out property management companies (they require 3x rent for income) or places like craigslist for rentals in your pricerange

[wburg]

The new subdivisions in the southern portion of West Sacramento will probably meet your needs. Close to where you're going, comparatively safe and not too expensive.

[edwardius]

When you say you are a family of five, do you have five kids or does the family of five include you and your husband?

If you have five kids, there is an excellent chance you are going to qualify for public assistance when only one of you can work and you might still qualify with just three kids depending on your income.

Here is the income chart here.

http://www.shra.org/Content/Housing/HousingDevelopment/IHCity/IncomeAffordabilityChart.pdf (broken link)

This will give you more information about how the program works in general.

Rental Help- HUD's Public Housing Program

and these are places you can contact to apply for it.

How to Apply (http://www.shra.org/Content/Housing/HCV/HowToApply.htm - broken link)
Yolo County Housing Authority - Apartments and Section 8 - Affordable Housing Online

[tahitiangreen]

I don't know what my budget will be. It all depends on what job my husband will have. I live 11 hours away, and won't move there until about two weeks before school starts. My main concern is finding a safe area, good for raising kids where we will have have probably half the median income ($76,000) for Sacramento. The central area seems to be our best bet as far as commute and price, but I know that one area of central can differ from another drastically in a city.

[tahitiangreen]

Great info! Thanks. BTW, three kids, two adults.

[wburg]

West Sacramento is a pretty small city, about 50,000 people, it only incorporated about 20 years ago and most of the new suburbs were built within the past few years. Before that, it was basically a little working town, home of the Port of Sacramento since the fifties. The northern part of town has an on-again, off-again gang injunction but for the most part West Sac is still kind of a small town on the edge of a bigger city. Look for apartments on the southern end of town.

[Beth26]

If you decide to live in West Sac, move either near Southport Elementary or Bridgeway Island Elementary. I personally like the Bridgeway Island area.