The wait for subsidized housing can take years for some units.
Matthew Smithson has worked a variety of factory and service jobs as an adult between his native California and a recent sojourn in western Virginia that landed him in Staunton a year ago.
Making factory bread, cleaning movie theaters and taking food orders were toilsome. But finding affordable housing on the fringes of employment in the Augusta County region? Now, that’s been hard work, said Smithson, 30.
“Trying to find a job here is just as hard if not just as aggravating as trying to find housing,” he said. “It’s hard to say which one’s harder to do.”
…more: For low-wage workers, finding affordable housing is hard