# What kind of income assistance or housing assistance do you get?



## Callie-xoxox

I was just curious in what kind of assistance everyone can get?
I know in the UK you can get alot and in the US there are not much options.

I get:
Child tax: $294.00 a month
Industrial: $100.00 a months I only get this till Lyrik is 6.
Rental Assistance: $300.00 a month
HST: $325.00 every 3 months

And I was working before I had Lyrik I get $944.00 a month


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## vinteenage

In the US, I get nothing. 

I wish I got $700 a month! Holy shit.


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## laura1991

i get £20 a week child benefit
i get £54 a week tax credit 
and £65 a week income support 
so quite alot more than you get!


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## Callie-xoxox

Is there anything you can apply for?
How do they expect young/low income families to live?!


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## stephx

I get quite a lot :blush:

£75 housing
£55 Tax credits
£126 Statutory maternity pay
£20 Child benefit
£10 council tax benefit

thats per week... UK girls are very lucky with the whole benefits thing

xx


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## Callie-xoxox

laura1991 said:


> i get £20 a week child benefit
> i get £54 a week tax credit
> and £65 a week income support
> so quite alot more than you get!

Holy cow! I wish I got that. I guess I am lucky to get anything though.


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## 9babiesgone

yeah in the usa they dont have that much of that stuff.

I have been trying to get disability for 3 years. no luck.


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## stephx

But in the UK we pay more tax... thats why we get more benefits, NHS etc x


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## vinteenage

Callie-xoxox said:


> Is there anything you can apply for?
> How do they expect young/low income families to live?!

You can apply for WIC (can help with formula, baby food, and other healthy food as baby gets older), but PA insists on taking in the entire family's income, so we're overqualified. There's food stamps, but that's only if you're living on your own which OH, Finn and I aren't. 

We can apply for state insurance, which Finn and I need to do. Finn will definitely be accepted, it's up in the air if I will. They're pickier with adults.

There's Section 8 housing which can help you with rent, but the houses are generally in awful area and our office isn't accepting applications anytime soon. 

They pretty much expect you to make it through yourself. :shrug:


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## Callie-xoxox

How much taxes do you have to pay?
Even if your on assistance they make you pay taxes?


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## Callie-xoxox

vinteenage said:


> Callie-xoxox said:
> 
> 
> Is there anything you can apply for?
> How do they expect young/low income families to live?!
> 
> You can apply for WIC (can help with formula, baby food, and other healthy food as baby gets older), but PA insists on taking in the entire family's income, so we're overqualified. There's food stamps, but that's only if you're living on your own which OH, Finn and I aren't.
> 
> We can apply for state insurance, which Finn and I need to do. Finn will definitely be accepted, it's up in the air if I will. They're pickier with adults.
> 
> There's Section 8 housing which can help you with rent, but the houses are generally in awful area and our office isn't accepting applications anytime soon.
> 
> They pretty much expect you to make it through yourself. :shrug:Click to expand...

That is soo silly!
At least there is some kind of housing for people that dont have family support.


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## stephx

Callie-xoxox said:


> How much taxes do you have to pay?
> Even if your on assistance they make you pay taxes?

When I worked full time I earned £1255 a month.. £255 was taken for tax, and then you pay national insurance too which is about £50 a month I think. your benefits dont get taxed though

and then we pay 20% on everything we buy

How much is tax is the US?

xx


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## Callie-xoxox

I am not sure of the US but I am in Canada
We pay 12% on everything we buy
and I made 14 000.00 last year and 1 300.00 got deducted.


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## vinteenage

It varies on locations. In PA, apparently it's 3.07% off of your paycheck. There's a 6% sales tax in PA.


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## stephx

wow.. we get stung for tax then :( x


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## stephx

Just looked it up, on earnings we pay 20% up to £37000 and 40% :o over £37000

aaaand then theres car tax which i dont think you pay, thats around £200 a year too x


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## x__amour

- WIC (Women, Infant and Children) food assistance. I get 10 cans of formula every month which equals $140 (£87, I _think_?) At 6 months I get baby food and formula and food until she's 5.
- Medicaid. Secondary for me, primary for Tori. I am under my parents insurance so they just pay for my co-pays. Everything for Tori is payed by Medicaid. 

That's it. There's so little you can get here. I do get slightly cheaper rent at the apartment I'm moving into but only by like $200 (£124?)
There are Section 8 housing but the wait lists are closed for 3 years and the areas are just awful. They only thing they do is help you pay your rent. 

Sales tax here is 8.1%. 

I wish we had more help. :(


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## MrsEngland

Tax credits- £32
Child benefit- £20
Maternity allowance- £98

Thats a week, although we are getting more tax credit at the minute coz its been back dated.


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## MrsEngland

stephx said:


> Just looked it up, on earnings we pay 20% up to £37000 and 40% :o over £37000
> 
> aaaand then theres car tax which i dont think you pay, thats around £200 a year too x

My dad pays 40% tax its crazy when you look at his pay slip how much of it goes it tax! I was miffed enough when hubby gets £400 a month taken off him for tax and thats before he does overtime you really get stung when he does overtime!


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## aidensxmomma

My OH and I get:

*Foodshare- $600/month. Sounds great except for the fact that it only covers food and our little family does not go through that much. It would be amazing if we could use half for food and half for rent.
*Medicaid (BadgerCare)- all four of us have full coverage
*Unemployment insurance - $79/week

We get no assistance with rent or anything like that. And they've been screwing us over with the unemployment, too. Because apparently they think it's too easy to try to support a family of four on a little over $240 a month. :dohh:

*edit*

My OH also got $2000 taken out of his tax return (which is money we really needed) because of child support on _our_ kids. And they've been after him since Aiden was born even though we've been living together. I didn't even open the child support case, the state did because I'm on assistance.


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## Tanara

_This is what I get 

$277 for Taye for the Canadian child tax benefit
$277 For Fayth for the Canadian child tax benefit
$100 for Taye for the international benefit (til he's 6)
$100 for Fayth for the international benefit (til she's 6)
$159 every 3 months for GST (mine)
$95 every 3 months for GST (OH's)

And I get $250 a month from Tayes dad but that's not Government

Oh and I'm from Alberta Canada and we pay 6% on everything we buy. 


Theres also income support you can apply for which is $1200 a month
subsidized living, which they will give you like $500 towards rent.
Low income housing which rent in those places is about $300 /month


So about £639 ($1022 US) /month 
£161 ($258 US) every 3 months _


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## Callie-xoxox

Alberta and B.C are about the same other then I pay more tax.
Is it cheapish to rent a house out there>?


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## Tanara

_We are moving end of April, into a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom 4 plex, it's a 2 level split, with a fenced backyard. It's $925 a month, then $130ish in utilities, we have to pay power water and gas. It's ridiculous though because my dad's mortgage payments (he owns a $300,000 house) is only $989 plus 360 (every 6 months for taxes)._


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## purple_kiwi

i get assistance (ontario works) its like 1200 a month but i have to pay rent and get bus passes for me and oh with it and food.
then 377 from child tax then another 100 from unversial child benfit till shes 6 i think
then gst/hst every 3 months (its in some phasing thing to change) around 160
then ost every couple months and one other thats a last payment thing. i can hardly tell because it seems so random. 

but on average about 1700 + any random tax benfit we might get
and all prescriptions are covered for us


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## Callie-xoxox

Canada seems to have WAY more assistance then the US.
it seems very silly.


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## AriannasMama

Shit, I'm gonna move to Canada :haha: Uhh, I also get WIC (10 cans of formula for now, then next month I will also get like 32 jars of baby food, but then only 7 cans of formula), then I get medicaid, but I can't totally complain because I also qualify for pell grants so I pay nothing for school, plus I get a crap load of credits during tax time.


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## amygwen

I get WIC, which pays for milk, cheese, eggs and since Kenny was 6 months we get like 96 jars of baby food (meat and veg/fruit) plus 4 boxes of baby rice. I don't use jarred baby food, so I could go w/out WIC 

I also get Medicaid, which makes everything free (doctors appointments, surgeries.. everything) for Kenny!


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## sequeena

Tanara said:


> _This is what I get
> 
> $277 for Taye for the Canadian child tax benefit
> $277 For Fayth for the Canadian child tax benefit
> $100 for Taye for the international benefit (til he's 6)
> $100 for Fayth for the international benefit (til she's 6)
> $159 every 3 months for GST (mine)
> $95 every 3 months for GST (OH's)
> 
> And I get $250 a month from Tayes dad but that's not Government
> 
> Oh and I'm from Alberta Canada and we pay 6% on everything we buy.
> 
> 
> Theres also income support you can apply for which is $1200 a month
> subsidized living, which they will give you like $500 towards rent.
> Low income housing which rent in those places is about $300 /month
> _

Holy cow 6% vat? Ours is 20%! I'm moving to Canada :rofl:


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## Tanara

_Oh and in Alberta we have free health care, covers everything except eye and dental, but OH gets it with work, and the Gov has Alberta works for low income families, which if your approved they give your kids everything free and adults only pay a %_


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## sequeena

Tanara said:


> _Oh and in Alberta we have free health care, covers everything except eye and dental, but OH gets it with work, and the Gov has Alberta works for low income families, which if your approved they give your kids everything free and adults only pay a %_

Seems Canada has the same sort of set up as our NHS :flower:


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## Ablaski17

Shit I get nothing since I own a home , I wish I could get some sort of money. We pay $874 a month in a mortage $740 a month in health insurance , usually around $250 in electric $110 in cable , $127 for phones plus we still have to go food shopping home owners insurance car insurance and what not and every quarter we pay $45 for trash and $250 for water. I wish I got some sort of assistance


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## tasha41

Not much, 

HST rebates = $330 every 3 or 4 months or something? It was like $1,000 over one year for the first year of HST in Ontario. Only one more left, in June.

I get $91/month CCTB.. (based on income)
and I get $100/month UCCB.. (everyone gets this, no matter how much you make, for kids under 6)

So *$191 per month,* 
down from the max of $476 per month I was getting while I was classed as single (this isn't "welfare" this is tax benefits)

We also have disability and social assistance here :) Disability you might be able to live off but I don't know how single people on welfare survive off what they get, under $600/month, while rent for a bachelor apartment is $625/month here :wacko: 

Cost of living, taxes, and minimum wage are all higher here, which is why we get more $$.

I go to the States all the time to buy clothes and stuff-- more variety, lower or no sales tax, lower prices in general. 

Alcohol is very expensive here for example. $25ish + tax for a 26er of Smirnoff vodka. My sister got it for like $10 at a store in Buffalo. 
Cigarettes are over $10 for a pack of 25

I think we pay 5-13% sales tax on mostly everything here :( I don't know the exact percentage I'm taxed at on income but I have to do my taxes so I can look into that. I know our property taxes are $2,200 per year -- on a 2 bedroom bungalow, 700sq. ft


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## _laura

I get (as a working uni student):
£80 a month Child Benefit
£322 a month Working Tax Credit
£231 a month Child Tax Credit
£5300 every 3 months uni maintenance allowance
£1900 every 3 months uni grant
£1200 every 3 months parents allowance (uni)

I know I get alot but I have to pay for my uni fees, rent, childcare for max (which is £160 a week) and will eventually have to pay some of it back.


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## stephx

Wow I never knew you got so much as a uni student x


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## _laura

stephx said:


> Wow I never knew you got so much as a uni student x

Yeah if you are a uni student thats a parent and doesnt live at home (me and oh live together) its based on your own income rather than your parents.

as me and OH work but only earn about 6K between us we are entitled to a fair bit.

Bear in mind that the maintenance loan has to be paid back.


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## wishuwerehere

_laura said:


> I get (as a working uni student):
> £80 a month Child Benefit
> £322 a month Working Tax Credit
> £231 a month Child Tax Credit
> £5300 every 3 months uni maintenance allowance
> £1900 every 3 months uni grant
> £1200 every 3 months parents allowance (uni)
> 
> I know I get alot but I have to pay for my uni fees, rent, childcare for max (which is £160 a week) and will eventually have to pay some of it back.

I think I get a bit different to you!
I get :
£80/month child benefit
£45/month (ish) CTC
£1139.49 a term maintenance loan
£2600 a term in grants (maintenance, PLA and childcare)
£410 uni bursary 
(and my stupid fees loan, grr)

But it's a bit of a dodgy system because when you fill in the application form you have to complete it for the most recently completed tax year (so when I applied for academic year 2010/2011, it was done on my OH's yearly salary from the tax year 2009/10) and my OH has had 2 pay rises since then and I probably shouldn't be getting that much :shrug:


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## _laura

wishuwerehere said:


> _laura said:
> 
> 
> I get (as a working uni student):
> £80 a month Child Benefit
> £322 a month Working Tax Credit
> £231 a month Child Tax Credit
> £5300 every 3 months uni maintenance allowance
> £1900 every 3 months uni grant
> £1200 every 3 months parents allowance (uni)
> 
> I know I get alot but I have to pay for my uni fees, rent, childcare for max (which is £160 a week) and will eventually have to pay some of it back.
> 
> I think I get a bit different to you!
> I get :
> £80/month child benefit
> £45/month (ish) CTC
> £1139.49 a term maintenance loan
> £2600 a term in grants (maintenance, PLA and childcare)
> £410 uni bursary
> (and my stupid fees loan, grr)
> 
> But it's a bit of a dodgy system because when you fill in the application form you have to complete it for the most recently completed tax year (so when I applied for academic year 2010/2011, it was done on my OH's yearly salary from the tax year 2009/10) and my OH has had 2 pay rises since then and I probably shouldn't be getting that much :shrug:Click to expand...

yeah we get a tad more because me and OH are both students
and we don't get a childcare grant cause we get so much money in CTC :shrug:
yeah they asked us to estimate how much we would earn while we are at uni and give all of our outgoing expenses for the year which got us stumped (and spending about an hour with a calculator!)

I just know its going to be so stressfull when I go back, no time to myself or for me and OH to spend time together.

All I keep thinking is just get through this year and you're free from uni! :haha: (prbably shouldnt have that mentality if im paying to study haha)


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## laura1991

_laura said:


> I get (as a working uni student):
> £80 a month Child Benefit
> £322 a month Working Tax Credit
> £231 a month Child Tax Credit
> £5300 every 3 months uni maintenance allowance
> £1900 every 3 months uni grant
> £1200 every 3 months parents allowance (uni)
> 
> I know I get alot but I have to pay for my uni fees, rent, childcare for max (which is £160 a week) and will eventually have to pay some of it back.

You get loads from uni! 
Im gonna get hardly anything because i live at home 
i will be litterly living of tax credits and child benefits :S


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## _laura

laura1991 said:


> _laura said:
> 
> 
> I get (as a working uni student):
> £80 a month Child Benefit
> £322 a month Working Tax Credit
> £231 a month Child Tax Credit
> £5300 every 3 months uni maintenance allowance
> £1900 every 3 months uni grant
> £1200 every 3 months parents allowance (uni)
> 
> I know I get alot but I have to pay for my uni fees, rent, childcare for max (which is £160 a week) and will eventually have to pay some of it back.
> 
> You get loads from uni!
> Im gonna get hardly anything because i live at home
> i will be litterly living of tax credits and child benefits :SClick to expand...

Yeah when I lived at home in my first year of uni I got about £800 per term. It didn't even cover my train to uni and my equiptment. Got in so much debt because of it.

Oh and I get more maintenance allowance than my OH cause we had to say all the bills and rent comes out of my account.


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## wishuwerehere

_laura said:


> wishuwerehere said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _laura said:
> 
> 
> I get (as a working uni student):
> £80 a month Child Benefit
> £322 a month Working Tax Credit
> £231 a month Child Tax Credit
> £5300 every 3 months uni maintenance allowance
> £1900 every 3 months uni grant
> £1200 every 3 months parents allowance (uni)
> 
> I know I get alot but I have to pay for my uni fees, rent, childcare for max (which is £160 a week) and will eventually have to pay some of it back.
> 
> I think I get a bit different to you!
> I get :
> £80/month child benefit
> £45/month (ish) CTC
> £1139.49 a term maintenance loan
> £2600 a term in grants (maintenance, PLA and childcare)
> £410 uni bursary
> (and my stupid fees loan, grr)
> 
> But it's a bit of a dodgy system because when you fill in the application form you have to complete it for the most recently completed tax year (so when I applied for academic year 2010/2011, it was done on my OH's yearly salary from the tax year 2009/10) and my OH has had 2 pay rises since then and I probably shouldn't be getting that much :shrug:Click to expand...
> 
> yeah we get a tad more because me and OH are both students
> and we don't get a childcare grant cause we get so much money in CTC :shrug:
> yeah they asked us to estimate how much we would earn while we are at uni and give all of our outgoing expenses for the year which got us stumped (and spending about an hour with a calculator!)
> 
> I just know its going to be so stressfull when I go back, no time to myself or for me and OH to spend time together.
> 
> All I keep thinking is just get through this year and you're free from uni! :haha: (prbably shouldnt have that mentality if im paying to study haha)Click to expand...

I thought it was only if you got the childcare element of Working tax credit that you didn't get a childcare grant? That seems grossly unfair, if we get less CTC because my OH works fulltime and isn't a student it seems illogical and unfair to you to work out the childcare grant that way?


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## _laura

Yeah, were hoping that we might get a little bit of money towards childcare. If not then we're putting money by to pay for it.
Its all so bloody confusing. No wonder a lot of young people with kids don't go to uni :(

Just gone onto my student finance and I am eligble for a childcare grant :happydance:


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## annawrigley

tasha41 said:


> Cigarettes are over $10 for a pack of 25

Thats the same as it is here for a 20 pack!

Per week I get:
Child Benefit - £20.30 ($32.51 US / $31.90 CA)
Child Tax Credits - £49.98 ($80.04 US / $78.55 CA)
Income Support - £65.45 ($104.82 US / $102.86 CA)
Housing Benefit - £134.17 ($214.87 US / $210.85 CA)
Healthy Start vouchers (can be spent on fruit, veg, milk or infant formula) - £6.20 ($9.93 US / $9.74 CA)
Education Maintenance Allowance (if I have full attendance/no more than 20 mins late for a week at college... I don't often get this :haha:) - £30 ($48.05 US / $47.15 CA)

Whew. Think thats it!


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## AriannasMama

^ WHAT! I wish I would get paid for going to school :haha:.


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## KaceysMummy

We get: 

£80 a month for child benefit
£169 a month for child tax credits
£35 a month working tax credits 

It's crazy how much it all differs though... 
xx


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## lily123

I get (weekly)
Wages - £126
child benefit - £20.30
child tax credit - £66.89
Housing benefit - £115

Sounds like a lot but i've got rent, bills, childcare and food to pay for too.
xxx


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## annawrigley

AriannasMama said:


> ^ WHAT! I wish I would get paid for going to school :haha:.

:haha: I know right


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## bbyno1

I get 71.20 child tax credits.Why so much?Im worried im being overpaid now x


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## _laura

annawrigley said:


> AriannasMama said:
> 
> 
> ^ WHAT! I wish I would get paid for going to school :haha:.
> 
> :haha: I know rightClick to expand...

I never got EMA! I always turned up late :haha: or my lecturers never did a register.


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## KaceysMummy

We have to pay council tax too in UK - which differs in amount depending on housing band - you get it free though if unemployed or a student. 
Benefits in the UK are actually ridiculous compared to other places when you look at them...your better off here to not work than to have a full time job :? xx


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## Tanara

bbyno1 said:


> I get 71.20 child tax credits.Why so much?Im worried im being overpaid now x

_I get $277 (like £176ish i think) per kid plus the 100 for each kid, you wouldn't be getting overpaid_


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## 112110

I currently have.
WIC, which I am only eligible for because Brayden has medical assistance (Access Card):winkwink:
For when I want to attend college in Harrisburg there's some program which I cannot remember the name of that helps with: finding me housing, daycare for Brayden, pays my tuition, gives me a certain amount of money each month depending on what grades I am getting. 
This is all in PA, I got all of this through the CAIU program which is state government run so anyone in PA; I would highly recommend getting into it. They also provide transportation to doctors appointments, put us at the top of daycare waiting lists, provide (as much as they can) for anything you're needing; clothes, cribs and all that. Annnnnnd the lady the works with my group of people gives out $10 gift cards to Walmart/Target once a month :happydance::thumbup::happydance::thumbup:


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## annawrigley

bbyno1 said:


> I get 71.20 child tax credits.Why so much?Im worried im being overpaid now x

It might be cos you're in London. Just a guess lol. I got around £68 until Noah turned 1 and then it went down to £50ish x


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## Kalah

I don't remember the exact numbers but my OH and our baby (I'm from the US and not eligible for any benefits) get... 
£350 a month disability
£220 every two weeks for job seekers allowance 
£65 a week child tax credit
£20 a week child benefit

We own our house (fully paid off) so don't need any help paying that, otherwise we would also be eligible for assistance with that.


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## Melissa.Feb12

i get 660$ monthly from a program called 16/17
200$ rental assisance
250$ child tax
100$ universal tax


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## rainbows_x

CTC - £57 a week
CHild benefit - £82 something a month.
Housing benefit - £60 something a fortnight.


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