Housing sorted, thank you all - what worked for you?

After 11 weeks of searching, we found an apartment we can afford in Portland. The landlord took a chance on us. If you are searching, keep going.

Thanks for sharing the deposit help tip. I will look into it.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 11 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.