In order to obtain a Section 8 Program Housing Voucher you need to meet many requirements and one of them is falling under the income group that normally qualifies for getting Section 8 Program Housing facilities.
The various income groups are calculated on the median income of the particular city or state and this income may vary from year to year. For instance around 2000 and 2003 the US median income was around $62,200 and in 2008 it rose to around $67,000. So whether you fall under low-income group, very low-income group or extremely low-income group depends on what percentage of the median income constitutes of your total income. Let us quickly go through the various low-income groups.

This may only happen in my area, but I actually feel sorry for people who go to the County Housing Authorities to apply for HUD, or whatever else they get there. While I am no means a HUD expert, I have dealt with HUD vouchers on several properties, ie: those who accepted it all --RD, HUD, HOME and all the stuff that is(or was) out there.
Stories from tenants go (and many believable) that folks are herded around like cattle, treated by clerks that look down there noses at them, and threaten if paperwork is not done up to the standards, etc. And, in a lot of cases we are talking about elderly and disabled people. One of nearby County Housing Authorities was closed for 30 days due to the amount of complaints lodged against it, Congressional's etc.

The bottom line is this: All people are created equal. Financial situations are indeed different but have absolutely NOTHING to do with humanity and being treated with respect. There is NO excuse for a "better than thou" attitude from these housing employees. Additionally, I am more than displeased with the Housing Auhority/Landlord/Property Management relationship that I have observed.

A County Housing Employee has a rather robotic style job: Click the mouse and move the money. That is about it. An apartment manager goes far far beyond that. The manager gets up close and personal in a very good way with the tenant and assists, and assists and even again assists them.

What can we do? Well, aside from the HSpencer method of going down there and cleaning house in his old First Sergeant manner (does no good), we can simply reject that attitude from County Housing. Just simply say no to that mannerism.

Rant over, Back to stacking BBs.

Mindy is right, as she often is.... Many housing authorities are simply overworked and understaffed to meet demand and are unable to provide one on one counseling; however, they are often partnered with other local volunteer agencies that can help with a lot of issues, including:

-credit counseling
-debt consolidation
-retirement planning
-income tax preparation
-child custody issues
-medical concerns
-addiction counseling
-employment resources (job search help)
-services for victims of domestic (child/spousal) abuse
-legal aid issues

I have to say that the Housing Authorities I work with do offer programs related to credit counseling through other agencies. They also offer classes to prepare people to become homeowners and one component if that is credit prep and repair. But overall, I can say the folks on the front lines there are overworked! They don't have time to do one-on-one counseling. What I also see is adults ruining their children's futures by misusing their kids' social security numbers to get utilities in their names, buy cars, and whatever and completely defaulting. Poor kids don't even know until they get old enough to try for a loan, etc.

(As posted in my earlier post)Funny, I had always thought that Refusal to accept Section 8 was a violation of the Fair Housing Laws with regard to income. Thanks Mindy, I am agreeing that it is illegal to discriminate based on income.All I was trying to say, maybe I didn't word it correctly was that I would like to see less people(with or without section 8 vouchers)turned away due to their credit. I would like to see Housing Authorities work with their participants to heal their credit if needed.

In some states, section 8 is considered income, but in others, it's a voucher based system instead. Our local housing organizations have been unsuccessful thus far in creating legislation that would change the status of Section 8 vouchers so recipients to could live wherever they choose. Even though it can't be used to pay rent, some landlords even count food stamps as income. :)

Many conventional multifamily property owners have mortgages larger than their rental income, making it impossible to assist families in financial hardships. The owners of the building I manage all have day jobs.

Fortunately, there are free training programs available locally for individuals to get them back on track with credit. Some landlords will overlook an applicants' negative credit if they have completed it. :)

I think fair housing law should apply across the board equally. There's nothing "fair" about having a separate set of criteria for individuals who have paid their bills on time vs. those in financial hardships.