I feel the Roth IRA may be a better choice. 

We have received funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs in January and expect to receive payments in February.

I currently live with my mom who charges me almost 600 in rent and other expenses and I don't plan on leaving for the time being so would it be smart for me to go out and generate passive income and build equity now or just save up and wait?

Buy smart so you dont have to sell stupid.

They don't have to disclose flood zone here so you have to look it up individually, and some insurance companies have set up their own "surge" zones so either limits your choice of insurer or increases insurance costs in those areas.  

The choice is yours on how you wish to go about it, I hope that whatever you decide works in your favor.

I have been doing a lot of research and I keep reading that a smart investment will be over 8% Cash on Cash ROI.

House hacking is a smart move.

Now that my student loan payments are much more manageable I've been thinking about focusing on saving/investing instead of continuing to focus on the debt but I'm not sure if it's the smart move or not.

Maybe by the time we decide the choice will be obvious :)