Can local nurses receive travel housing in the same state?

Specialties Travel

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Here is the story. I wanted to try out travel nursing specifically for the housing voucher benefit. So I got an email from white glove agency about open med/surg position in NY. When I spoke with the recruiter, she said the rate would be $36/hr for a 13 week assignment. Then I asked about the housing. She said that their agency does not pay for housing for local nurses, only if your coming from out of state. Is this true for white glove? Also, $36 for a "travel nurse" seems low to me, especially if they are not giving housing. I know of NY nurses who do travel assignments in Ny and have housing vouchers. Please advise.

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Yes, travel nurses can receive a housing stipend in the same state. I took my first travel assignment with Access Nurses when I lived in California. My agency was concerned about the hospital not accepting a local traveler but we didn't have any problems. I also moved to Illinois on a travel assignment with the same agency and didn't have a problem. With my first contract with Access, I was paid about $31.50/hr and received a $1400/month housing stipend. Access isn't one of the top paying agencies, but they treated me really well (in the beginning) so I stayed with them. I brought home about $1116 a week last year with that first assignment. I recently took another assignment with them and my housing stipend was $1800/month. (housing stipend depends on location) I was bringing home about $1275 a week with my last assignment that ended in April.

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How does one go about getting the housing stipend in the same state? I saw where one agency required that one be from at least 50 miles away for their travel positions, and I didn't see anything about whether they still paid for housing.

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How does one go about getting the housing stipend in the same state? I saw where one agency required that one be from at least 50 miles away for their travel positions, and I didn't see anything about whether they still paid for housing.

I did live about 50 miles away from the hospital. I remember it was about a 45 minute drive but it wasn't an issue. I just applied for the travel position the usual way. There's nothing additional you need to do. Your recruiter will go over the specifics such as hourly rate, meal per diem, housing stipend, reimbursements etc. and this will all be stated in your contract.

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I thought maybe you had to use another address or something. Thanks for the info.

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Specializes in L&D.

Hi,

you can absolutely receive a housing stipend (or housing) within your home state.

I think the issue you ran into with White Glove is that it's not really a travel nursing agency. It handles jobs local to the New York area.

There are many travel nursing agencies mentioned in this forum. Actually, none of them are based in NY that I know of.

I live in NY state, travel to NYC to work and work for an agency based in California.

Hope that helps,

IC

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Specializes in L&D.

PS: that rate is too low an hourly for NYC agency work. Ultracare and Specialty both pay more like $42, but I don't know whether they do extended contracts. That's their per diem rate.

If that quote was for outside the city, then it's really quite good.

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