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Hello everyone, I am from Pennsylvania and a 20 year old mother of a 1 and 1/2 year old and my boyfriend who is 21 also is moving with me. He has family in and is from Allendale/Fairfax and his mother lives in Columbia. We are moving August 25th and will be staying with his mother there until we find a place of our own, because the area we currently live is just getting terrible as far as the drugs/crime in people our age. My problem is that I am currently on section 8 and was trying to find somewhere in SC that I could port my voucher to. The only place that would accept me was Sumter so I continued to do that just as a fall back plan and was going to try and manage to live in Columbia because I currently work at Cracker Barrel and am able to transfer to a store in Columbia. My question is, would it be worth living in Sumter and driving 45 minutes each way to work to save the money on my rent, or would it be more cost effective to just pay the full rent on a place in Columbia and save the money/time in my commute? I am currently averaging around $900 a month total in my income in the area I live in but the pay here is alot less here than what I would be making there. Or would it be a good idea to move to Sumter and maybe even find a new job there saving on my commute? Even if I were to decide to live in Sumter, it would only be a temporary situation (maybe a year or so) until I would be relocating to Columbia for good if that were that case. I guess I just wanted some insight on the area. Also, I was curious if anyone knew of any ideas of where to look for section 8 accepting places in Sumter?
I think the amount of money you would spend on commuting would not be offset by your salary. I would recommend contacting the Columbia Housing Authority and see if they have any recommendations for you.
I have already contacted the Columbia Housing Authority. I spoke to man name John Spann who said I would be able to port my voucher with a 30 day notice so I went ahead and gave a notice on my lease here and went ahead with moving plans and the day I gave him my final paperwork he told me that he was no longer willing to allow me to transfer it to them because of the big difference in rent from PA to SC. Sorry forgot to put that info in there. And the waiting lists for any type of assisted housing is atleast a year.
If you move to Sumter, then you definately want to find a job in Sumter to save on the commuting costs. That being said, job prospects in Columbia are probably better than in Sumter. Since you are currently working at a restaurant and if you continue to seek work in that industry.. Sumter has plenty so I'm sure you may be able to find employment. The Housing Authority in Sumter may have similiar issues as the one in Columbia (i.e. long waiting list, etc) at one time it was difficult to find decent properties in Sumter that accepted vouchers which unfortunately regulated the participants to neighborhoods that had their share of other issues.. but, that was some time ago, so hopefully things have changed. The rents in Sumter may be lower also, so you may be able to find a rental without requiring any assistance. Since you are saying its only temporary.. maybe you should go for it (work in Sumter) and then transition to Columbia as you become more familiar with city and you and your boyfriend find employment there. Sumter is not a horrible place, but given your age you may find Columbia more to your liking and has more employment opportunities. Is there anyway that your "status" in terms of what the Housing Authority says makes you "ineligible" for assistance will change after you have lived in the state for a period of time?
thanks for your response , and yes that's what I was thinking was maybe after me being in the state and right down the road, Columbia would be more willing to accept me than they are with me being from out of state. Our plan was to live in Sumter for a year because thats the minimum you can have a lease without terminating your section 8, and then try to transfer to Columbia again.
I live in Sumter and the cost for me to commute to Columbia each day (I'm somewhat close to the 3 Cracker Barrels that I know of) in my little 4-cylinder Subaru is around $400/mo.
There have been a few new restaurants open recently that should be hiring. With food service experience you shouldn't have *too* much trouble finding work in Sumter.
I myself drive a Chevy Trailblazer getting about 12-13mpg , and my boyfriend drives a Oldsmobile Aurora which gets about 18mpg so i think my gas cost would probably be alot more than what u get in a subaru(i wish i still had mine terribly, considering i got rid of it before the gas prices went through the roof). Does anyone know of any places/people willing to rent with Section 8 in Sumter? Or anyone who would be able to assist me ?
Oh, yeah, gas prices will kill you commuting in those rigs. I suggest looking for a restaurant job in Sumter. There's PLENTY of eateries there. My wife, who grew up there, calls it the most eating out place in the world.
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