Housing
Housing for New Refugees
Promising Practices in Refugee Housing - a publication by Mercy Housing (PDF 18MB)
Welcome to Your New Home Workbooks
A comprehensive Housing Orientation workbook. Each page contains large, brightly colored illustrations of “do’s” and “don’ts”. The booklet addresses apartment maintenance, safety and security, mail and notices, being a good neighbor and energy conservation.
English (PDF 4.6MB)
Arabic PDF (PDF 6.1MB)
Amharic (PDF 6.6MB)
Burmese (PDF 4.6MB)
French (PDF 4.1MB)
Hmong (PDF 2.5MB)
Karen (PDF 2.9MB)
Kishwahili (PDF 2.7MB)
Nepali (PDF 3.0MB)
Russian (PDF 2.5MB)
Somali (PDF 5.6MB)
Spanish (PDF 2.8MB)
Please Repair...
Renters and landlords need to effectively communicate about repairs! This illustrated housing repair guide to help refugees and other renters with limited English communicate repair requests in a way that is understood by property managers. It is designed to be printed double-sided, except the "Report Immediately" page which should be single-sided and on bright colored paper!
English Intro (PDF 12KB)
Amharic (PDF 2.1MB)
Arabic (PDF 1.5MB)
Burmese (PDF 2.1MB)
French (PDF 2.1MB)
Maay Maay (PDF2.2MB)
Russian (PDF 1.8MB)
Somali (PDF 2.3MB)
Spanish (PDF 2.1MB)
Thai (PDF 1.7MB)
Vietnamese (PDF 1.7MB)
Mercy Housing Info: PDF
Bed Bug info sheet: Word Doc
Household Pests Info: PPT
Renting to Refugees: A Landlord's Guide
Renting to Refugees: A Landlord's Guide is an informative brochure designed to be given to landlords. It describes why refugees are good renters, identifies resettlement resources of interest to property managers, and provides tips on problem solving issues between property managers and refugees.
English - Front (PDF 176KB)
English - Back (PDF 177KB)
Renting Housing in The United States: A Guide For New Americans
The first step to being a successful renter is understanding your rights and responsibilities. Renting Housing in the United States: A Guide for New Americans, a three-fold brochure, provides useful tips on what you need to know to obtain and maintain rental housing. The information is generally a very condensed version of that contained in Welcome to Your New Home. The brochure is available in English, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian.
English (PDF 149KB)
Serbo-Croatian (PDF 2.0MB)
Russian (PDF 2.3MB)
Housing Disclaimer: PLEASE DO NOT attempt to move a family to a different apartment without the approval of LFS staff members, especially within the first 6 months. It is not only costly to break a lease but also harmful to the relationship that LFS has with landlords. Breaking a lease may result in LFS not being able to find good housing for a future refugee family because the landlord is fed up and refuses to rent to refugees.
Housing is typically paid for the first three to five months (although sometimes less) through the Reception and Placement money that each family receives from the government. This money is held by LFS and they pay the landlords directly for three months (or less). Sometimes utilities have to be paid separately. After 90 days LFS is required to give the remaining R&P money to the family. Sometimes LFS gives the money directly to the family as a check and other times it is credited towards their rent for future months.
DRM gives $750-$1,050 to the family. It is administered through LFS (like the R&P money) to use for housing expenses.
After the R&P money is finished, rent is paid for through TANF, Matching Grant, or CARES money, or from the money the family makes from jobs.
Other forms of housing assistance:
This Colorado program assists with winter heating costs for people with low incomes.
Section 8
Section 8 is a housing program for very low income households. In Colorado there is a lottery system to determine those who receive aid. You must apply online and then there are random drawings throughout the year. You can only apply once per year, but you can re-apply every year.
HUD-Subsidized Refugee Residency Requirements - PDF
Energy Outreach Colorado - www.energyoutreach.org
This program gives funds to organizations like LFS to help their clients with home energy costs.
Private assistance programs:
Aurora Interchurch Taskforce Inc.
Aurora Interchurch Task Force, Inc. provides substantive emergency assistance to the residents of Aurora. All assistance is provided through telephone interviews to determine need and by appointment only. The task force provides assistance such as groceries, clothing, layettes, household goods, utility payment assistance, emergency medication funds, bus tickets, and school supplies for children. Call 303-360-0260.