ORLANDO, Fla. – A Central Florida Vietnam War veteran is struggling to find housing after one apartment complex told him he needed to make three times the monthly rent in income despite having a housing voucher.
Steve Wickersham is a Vietnam War veteran who has been living in temporary housing since the home he was renting was sold.
“I lived there for 3 years, and then they sold,” Wickersham said. “All of a sudden it was about $1,400 - $1,500 in the same neighborhood with nothing extra. So for a couple of nights, I slept through the darkness down there at Lake Eola with the ducks.”
After nearly a year of searching for the right place to live, he said he felt like he finally found a home at Ender’s Place in Baldwin Park.
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Wickersham said he planned to use a voucher to cover two-thirds of the rent plus utilities. He said the complex told him he could use the voucher, but he still needed to make three times the monthly rent.
“The way they said it was — they’re not going to credit it toward the rent,” Wickersham said. “I mean that’s what the voucher is for. To pay the rent and to give veterans that need a place and can’t afford the high rents so they’re paying most of the rent through the voucher.”
Wickersham said because he works part-time he’s able to pick up a third of the rent he would be responsible for.
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, has also stepped in to help.
“Our staff has been really proactive in trying to see if there could be a waiver, maybe a one-time exception for this rule, but we haven’t seen this company budge at all,” Eskamani said. “And it’s frustrating because I understand the intention of these policies, but there are other ways to check if someone can pay their rent.”
News 6 left a voicemail with the Ender’s Place parent company, ZRS. We also called the apartment complex and stopped by. We are still waiting to hear back from the company.
In the meantime, Wickersham said he’ll continue to look for a new place to call home.
“I’m tired of looking — I’ve been looking for almost a year now,” Wickersham said.
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