Danielle L

Review of Spokane Housing Authority

Some of the people here genuinely appear as though...

Some of the people here genuinely appear as though they want to help, particularly the guy that teaches the class and usually the people up front, but my experience with others here has been less positive. I dealt with the intake lady named Jessica who consistently talked down to me in emails, not bothering with any niceties and having a condescending tone that always made me feel like I was wasting her time when I actually had a serious issue I needed help with. I was excited to receive the voucher I had waited so long for, worth 625$. I had a decrease in income which brought the new total to $825 so I used that amount to get into my new 2br apartment. I'm a single mom with a baby so I appreciated this immensely. The day I went to sign my lease, however, I was notified that they would only be covering a couple hundred dollars of my rent. I was shocked and contacted jessica immediately. They had miscalculated my income so badly that my voucher was cut by about $600. When I asked her through a series of emails when the voucher rate would be adjusted, she snapped at me and said "I already told you nothing is going to change."...NO ONE tried to understand my point of view. I'm on my own with a baby and never would have applied for a place that cost even half as much. I submitted a change in circumstances form and was told it would take a month to calculate the "change" (even though nothing had changed) and that I would s motill have to pay the first months rent based on income I NEVER HAD. So..i paid that and just received the new calculation which is still much less than the initial amount despite absolutely nothing changing but at least is more reasonable. It appears as though the initial voucher calculations are just numbers pulled out of thin air; it would be helpful to know that they are unreliable before using them for something as crucial as applying for a place to rent...I get the feeling that they stereotype people as poor, ignorant and uneducated. I understand that jobs in the helping profession lead to burn out, but if you're just going to judge everyone like they're clueless idiots, maybe start looking for a new job.