For a woman struggling to get by, having a roof over her head can be her toughest and most urgent problem. If you are a woman in transition, you may be needing a place to live tonight. If so, there are only a few places of refuge—the Knox Area Rescue Ministries, the Salvation Army, or the Serenity Shelter, if you are seeking safety from an abusive spouse or boyfriend. Links to these agencies are located to your left on this page. If you have the “luxury” of time, you may be able to get Section 8 assistance from Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation (KCDC) http://www.kcdc.org/housing/section8.htm if you live in the city of Knoxville, or Knox County Housing Authority (KCHA) http://www.knoxcoha.org if you live in Knox County. Section 8 assistance requires getting your name on a waiting list and being interviewed by these agencies (links located to the left) to determine eligibility. If you’re trying to find a better rental property for yourself and your family, you may try searching the following: The Knoxville News-Sentinel (links located on left)….. It’s also possible that you hope to own your own home. If you are a first time home buyer, you may try Knox Housing Partnership (KHP). They provide training and counseling for first time homebuyers, many of whom are long time renters who never thought they’d ever be eligible for home ownership. KHP will schedule you for a free orientation to help you decide whether or not you fit into their program. The program itself has a tuition of $75*. The training certifies the “graduate” for certain types of loans, and their expert counseling guides the homebuyer through the process and protects them from loans that are not to their best interest. Oak Ridge has a similar program for those in Anderson County and the surrounding counties. If you are a first time home buyer or haven’t owned a home in three years, *Call KHP to learn more about this program and to find out if you qualify for a waiver for this tuition.