As I stated in my previous post, I did finally get my housing voucher after fighting for it for close to a year. I got it earlier this month(May). Naturally my focus has now shifted to the next phase—securing an apartment, preferably in Jamaica Queens because my kids are already enrolled in school there, and seemingly like their schools a lot—didn’t see that coming😂
I thought the apartment leasing process would be easy as it is in Houston Texas, where virtually every apartment complex has an onsite leasing office—you basically walk in, fill in the application, make a deposit, view the desired unit, then wait 3-5 days for a decision—sometimes even get it the same day if you have good leasing history.
The leasing process in NYC is a whole new animal. You have to call some number to be told whether they have any available unit, then schedule a visit if they want you and then…Long story short, the NYC apartment leasing process is NOT conducive for a targeted individual because as TIs know, half the time you don’t even know whether the “leasing agent” you are talking to on the phone is one.😂 Hey, I’m just keeping it real🤷♀️
And proof is in the pudding. I’ve made NUMEROUS calls but ZERO requests for viewing.🙄Surprise surprise. And the times I’ve spoken to a “leasing agent” on the phone, it’s almost always the SAME story—no two bedroom apartments in Queens—not Jamaica Queens, the whole damn Queens😳😂. Come on now, that’s not even statistically possible🤷♀️
And the times that I call and find out that they do have 2 bedrooms in Queens it’s strangely just a little over the amount my voucher allows—or very far away from Jamaica Queens. Yeah, you guessed it right, the TI alarm 🚨 🚨 is beginning to go off😂. If I keep up with this phone tag business, I’ll be stuck in the shelter for another year with voucher in hand. That ain’t happening.😂🤷♀️ I have to scramble and find a NEW way to get an apartment. I’ll keep playing phone tag but at this point I don’t expect anything from that process.
I’ve been reliably informed that DSS(NYCs dept of social services) does OWN some apartments. I don’t know how true that is, but I’d rather pursue that route than rely on the phone tag folks. Very suspicious, folks. Stay tuned.
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