Parking the car in the lot, Tiffany Gilmore walks toward her apartment holding her daughter’s hand and a bag of food with the other.
She returns to the car to unload a children’s bike and locks the car doors behind her. She stops for a moment to take in the sight of her niece and daughter inside the apartment.
“Coming from somebody else's couch on somebody else's floor with my two kids I'm very happy to have my own space,” she said.
She joins her family inside and helps her niece prepare lunch as her daughter follows close behind her in the kitchen.
Gilmore has been searching for a place to stay for several years within the Housing Choice Voucher program also known as Section 8. The high demand for affordable housing and low supply has left many people searching for housing with landlords who are willing to accept the HCV vouchers and a majority are left on a waitlist. Gilmore became homeless after her mother passed away, which led her to apply for Section 8 housing.
Although she struggled to apply for section 8 and waited several years before being accepted, she says she was motivated to move out of Mississippi in search of better opportunities for her and her family. Her journey with Section 8 started in Mississippi and led her to Oklahoma and finally to Denton, Texas.
More landlords have started to see the benefits of vouchers as guaranteed income said Lemaya Woods, the director of Section 8.
“With the way that we’re dealing with the pandemic, right now, a lot of landlords are on board with accepting the voucher it’s just unit availability that’s the problem,” she said.
Tiffany Gilmore is a single parent to two children under the age of 5. Gilmore grew up with her sister in Mississippi d has lived with her mother for most of her life. She was diagnosed with mood swing disorder when she was 6 years old.
“They thought it was dyslexia, but I kept passing everything and they were like she isn’t, intellectually disabled, because she can pass the classes it's just, I couldn't sit down,” she said. “I have too much adrenaline and they’ve been trying to figure out how to calm it down, they just haven't figured it out yet.”
Gilmore has also struggled with depression throughout her life and went to therapy in Oklahoma.
“It's hard to come out of depression, it's like the hardest thing known to man because you never know when your bodies in depression you just know you're tired you just know you're sad there’s not a switch to tell you oh I'm depressed,” she said.
Gilmore receives disability benefits from the federal HUD program in addition to section 8 housing assistance.
“I'm just in a fixed income situation whether I go get a job or not it’s something that's gonna mess up my housing it's like a blessing and a curse,” she said.
Federal assistance can be taken away from recipients if they go over the income limitations.
“I was working at Walmart, but because my income was exceeding my housing my HUD, I had to you know, quit that job to make sure me and my kids have a place because even though it's helpful, it's hurtful to when you want to be better than what you are when you don't want to stay in one spot,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore moved in search of better opportunities for her family.
“After she left, she told me to come out to Texas,” said Kiera Lewis, Tiffany’s niece. "Now she’s helping me build my credit and find a trade so I can support myself.”
In the future Gilmore hopes to use the Section 8 program to buy a house of her own.
“I’m taking every advantage to make sure in five years...if I’m in a position where I can just walk away from section eight to open it up for somebody else and be buying my own house it's just, it's helpful,” she said.
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