Teaming for Technology Colorado

Housing

Apartment/Room Shares: By far the most common way for AmeriCorps members to find affordable housing is through apartment share arrangements. In a share, a tenant of an apartment or home advertises for a roommate. In most cases, the housing will offer a private bedroom and shared common areas (kitchen, bathroom and perhaps living room). When exploring shared arrangements, take time to interview and scrutinize your potential roommate. Look for renters with similar lifestyles as yourself, such as smoker vs. non-smoker, cat-lover vs. allergy-sufferer. Analyze your gut feelings about this arrangement.

AmeriCorps Group Shares: Another way to make housing more affordable is to get together with other AmeriCorps members in your area and search together for a house or apartment with multiple bedrooms. A 3-bedroom apartment with rent split into thirds will almost always be cheaper than a 1-bedroom (or even a studio) for a single person.

Living Alone: It is possible to find a studio or 1-bedroom apartment that would be affordable on the AmeriCorps stipend. One option is to look for ones that have income restrictions--they might be cheaper. Another option might be a mother-in-law (or MIL), which is an apartment within a house. MILs have their own kitchen and bathroom facilities, but you might share the yard and/or laundry facilities with the rest of the house. Finally, some buildings rent out Single Room Occupancy (SRO) apartments, which are often in converted hotels. In SRO's you have your own bedroom but usually share kitchen and bathroom spaces with other tenants. They can be significantly cheaper than studio apartments.

• House-A-VISTA - a general housing page from the friends of VISTA website.
• Low-income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) LEAP provides low-income folks with financial assistance on their energy bills. For an application call your local electric provider (Excel for CO) or check out the national web site where you can narrow it down to where you are.
• Craig's List - The infamous craig's list, Denver version, has a plethora of affordable housing links, as well as great free stuff, events, and forums.
• DU-Off-Campus Housing lists
• Housing Services - Human Services, Inc. Human Services Inc. Housing Services helps struggling young families acquire safe, affordable housing and build on their life skills.
• Westword Newspaper - The "Backpage" of the local community newspaper has an excellent selection of current available places to stay. Many houses with rooms for rent as well as big apartment buildings.
• Denver Neighborhoods
• Denver Neighborhoods Index
• Census 2000 Comparing Denver Neighborhoods
• Downtown Denver Partnership - Here is a housing link containing the address and contact info for several housing and apartment complexes in or near downtown Denver. Be warned, however, that many of the sites listed here are premium, luxury spaces and are quite expensive, although those marked with an asterisk have designated affordable spaces for rent. Also be sure to sign up for the CO AmeriCorps Yahoo! Group (on the General Resources page) and ask for any available housing, chances are you'll be pointed to several things. Check back soon for more info.

Budgeting

Monthly Budget: The following monthly budgets are low and high-end samples for living in CO. These are just general outlines to use as templates to estimate your own costs. As you can see, it is possible to survive on the modest AmeriCorps living allowance (although you may have to make some trade-offs)! Keep in mind that you may need to adjust you budget depending on your project and your location. For example, members in urban areas who will have a car should factor in parking expenses (which can be significant) while those in rural areas may have to drive longer distances to their service site and pay more for gas.

You should try to estimate your monthly expenses to find the range of monthly rent you think you will be able to afford. Monthly rents vary widely in different parts of the state, but in general rents under $300 are very rare and many members chose to find a roommate to share expenses with. Your supervisor and current members can be good sources of information on monthly costs.

Before arranging your housing, you should create a realistic budget for your service year to determine the amount of rent you can afford. Full-time AmeriCorps and VISTA members take home around $750 - $850 per month. The living allowance may vary by site and by the type of position (AmeriCorps vs. AmeriCorps*VISTA). Keep in mind that AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps*VISTA members are eligible for food stamps, although the exact amount of the benefit will not be known until you meet with a case manager. Additionally, some programs are able to provide some help with transportation costs (such as bus passes). Make sure to ask your supervisor about any benefits you may be eligible for, and factor that into your budget calculations.