Looking for tips and advice from people in the Portland area, please. [View all]

My wife and I have been dragging along in Las Vegas since we started living together in 2002, and frankly we can't stand to stay here a moment longer. However, we will be forced to until next summer.

We're on very limited incomes (I'm on disability and my wife has not been able to find even a fast food job in over 2 years of looking), but if we scrimp and save every available penny and receive a bit of help from concerned family members, we'll have just enough to rent a small van, get our stuff up there and then move into a cheap place (cheap as in $500/month for rent, plus another couple hundred for utilities).

I've been checking out apartment sites and Craigslist, but either the rents are too high or the information is very spotty, and being as we're still over a year out from being able to do this at all, I see no point in calling and bothering people for nothing.

So having said that, can some of you kind and awesome Portland area DU'ers point me towards places you may know of which are cheap but not located in an urban war zone? Are there any assistance programs to help low-income and disabled people get settled in? We want for my wife to get a job shortly after we arrive there, and even something part-time which only yields $600 or so a month would allow us to live with a modicum of security in the right environment.

I should note that we currently have four cats, but two of them are now 10+ years old and as they make their journey over the 'Rainbow Bridge', we won't be replacing any until we're down to two and then would only take one for a maximum of three furballs.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.