will my social service department help me find a home with bad credit?

My boyfriend of 2 years is telling me that i need to find a place of my own. We have a daughter together which we take care of together, so I am not looking into forcing him to pay child support. I have been looking around for low income apartments, and they all do credit checks. I have bad credit from my first apartment I moved into after moving out my parents house at the age of 18. My roommate moved out on me, after I lost my job and couldnt pay the bills, so I had to end up cutting the lease and I owe them 2,600 dollars on my half, which I have not been able to pay at this time. If I go to my social service will they be able to find me an apartment with bad credit or will it be a waste of time? I work as a server and make about 800 a month. I dont want to go there and wait a couple of hours and them tell me that they cant help me. Thanks for any advice.

Public Comments

1. You need to search out a good landlord who is willing to take a chance. You may be asked to give a bigger deposit than normal, but this is better than having to rent a room in house with other people. You can find out if you can get "housing" from the social service department because woman and children are always on the high priority section of the waiting list. Don't hesitate.
2. If you're worried about your credit and finding a place to live, have you considered asking someone to co-sign for you on the lease? If not, what usually would happen is that you will get accepted somewhere, but might have to pay a larger security deposit. A lot of places require a possible tenant to pay for a credit check, so you might want to be up front with them before you pay this fee. You don't make that much money and if you paid $50 at a time for a credit check, it could cost you. As for your boyfriend.. you shouldn't have to force him to pay child support. He is the father of your child and should know to pay. If there is going to be problems, you might have to take him to court. For this reason, you might want to consider moving in temporarily with a family member until you know for sure that he's going to pay the support. I'd try to find a better paying job, or ask for more hours to help you with your situation. Good luck.