I have lived in public housing for the past few years. I'm grateful to have a roof over my head, but the erm, culture in public housing, at least in the state where I live (southern US) is very different from "regular" housing.

Lots of my neighbors are very noisy, people come into the neighborhood to buy drugs or just to hang out, I have neighbors with rage problems who stand out in the parking lot and yell about things, and I occasionally hear gunshots. I am in the best public housing development in my town.

I can't say what things might be like in Oregon.

There are other types of low-income housing besides public housing that you might look for. There are privately-owned apartment complexes that only charge %30 of your income max. There's a type of housing called LIHEAP (can't remember what that means.) If you are 55+, you generally have a better selection of housing to choose from.

I read your profile and noticed that it said that you have pets. Most public housing usually has rules about how many pets you can have. It can range from none to two, usually.

Oh, another way to get housing assistance is through HUD housing vouchers (used to be called Section 8.) You have to get on a waiting list for a voucher.

If you know where you want to move to, you can call public housing there before you move there and ask some questions. Sometimes you can put your name on the waiting list for housing in a place before you are actually living there.

Hope you find a good place to live.