'To Have A Place Where I Can Have Food'

The Census Bureau estimates Seattle grew faster than any other major American city last year. As more people move here, the pressure is on to find an affordable home.

Seattleites old and new are getting financially creative when it comes to housing. This week, we are documenting the quest for affordable housing in our series, Game Of Homes.

We start our series in South Lake Union. South Lake Union is no longer known for cheap rent, but it still has affordable pockets for very low income people, including the Pat Williams, an apartment building that is part of the Plymouth Housing Group. Plymouth rents out to people who qualify for Section 8, a federal housing subsidy.

KUOW's Steve Scher and Hannah Burn went to the Pat Williams apartments to meet with David Allen, who has spent 25 years in and out of homelessness.

“Getting housing has given me the opportunity to do some different things with my life like being sustained from drugs and alcohol for two years now,” Allen said.

Now that he has a place to live, David said he is often surprised by the small things — finding food in his cabinets, for example.

“That’s new to me, to have food readily available," he said. "It’s been forever to even have a place where I can have food.”

He dreams of having his own home someday: “In my mind I can see something better, something bigger, one bedroom or something. Maybe even a house. I mean, I try to reach for the stars.”

Follow #GameOfHomes to share your thoughts, or how you managed to find affordable housing in Seattle.