How to Find a Place to Live

Once you leave foster care, you will need your own place to live. Housing is one of the issues you should talk about in your Circle of Support or permanency planning meetings. Remember that, even though you age out of foster care when you turn 18, there are still a number of services and opportunities available to you, including staying in extended foster care. Once you do leave, financial help is available to get you started on your own, but it will not last long nor cover all bills, so you will need to have a job or college financial aid.

See Extended Foster Care for how you can stay in foster care after you turn 18.

Before taking steps to rent a place to live, you should become familiar with the renting process. Talk to those who are working with you on planning for your future, such as PAL staff, your CASA, transition support case managers, and transition center staff, about it. You can also find information at the Austin Tenants Council Project (which has information that applies statewide).

As you start to look for an apartment or house to rent, be ready to answer questions about your income, credit history, any criminal record, and references. If you are going to have a roommate, your roommate will have to give the same information. A landlord will probably want proof that you earn enough money to pay rent. The landlord may also run a “credit check.” Credit checks show whether you owe money on any loans or credit cards and whether you have been late paying bills. If this is your first time on your own, you probably will have a “clean” credit report showing no loans, credit cards, or bill payment history. If there is inaccurate information in your credit report, you need to get it fixed as soon as possible. If you have correct information that shows you have been late paying bills or rent, you may have problems finding a landlord that will rent to you. You may also have problems if you don’t have any history and the landlord thinks your income is too low. Sometimes landlords want someone with more money to co-sign, which may not be possible.

If you have a criminal record, you should understand exactly what shows up on a criminal history report and what you might need to tell someone about. Since many bigger apartment complexes will run a criminal background check and are often unwilling to rent to people with a criminal history, you may need to look for other types of housing.

See Juvenile and Criminal Records for more information about steps you can take to erase certain criminal records. Many records cannot be erased. If your record can be erased, the process can take many months. Try to avoid any criminal involvement as it can make obtaining housing and employment very difficult.

Your housing choices depend on what you will be doing. Some programs, like Job Corps and AmeriCorps, provide housing. If you are going to college, the school may have places to live on campus called dormitories or “dorms.” Sometimes they have apartments, including apartments for families. There are also Supervised Independent Living (SIL) programs through extended foster care that provide housing on and near campuses. If you live in a dorm, however, you will need to have a plan for where you will stay during school holidays because dorms usually close during those times. See Returning to Extended Foster Care about returning to foster care during school breaks. Don’t forget to ask the financial aid office and other offices at your college if the college offers special housing assistance to former foster youth.

Review Housing Benefits for Youth Leaving Foster Care for more information on housing options.

See Credit for more information on credit reports, including how you can get a copy of your credit report for free.