One-bedroom apartment needed! Eek!

So I know I've been saying I'd like to move to Prospect Heights proper for a while now (although I'm pretty close right now on Atlantic), and today I got a letter from my landlord saying that if I sign a new lease (which would begin March 1) he's increasing my rent by $250. He already raised it a hundred bucks last year and this is just a ridiculous amount for an apartment in a part of the neighborhood without so much as a grocery that sells decent produce (oh sure, there's the PathMark over at Atlantic Terminal, but if you've ever been there you know what a filthy, crowded dump it is).

I'm going to try to talk him down, but I doubt I'll get anywhere. And if that doesn't work I'm going to try to talk him into letting me stay an extra half month or month. But it looks like I'm probably going to have to move at either the end of February or sometime in March.

Here's what I'm praying for: one bedroom, cats allowed, somewhere reasonably close to transportation, for $1200 or less. Preferably more like $1100 or $1000. Am I totally smoking crack to hope to find something safe and well-maintained in that range? Man, I sure hope not.

I'm a nonprofit worker, live fairly quietly, am a damned good tenant and keep a fairly clean apartment, and pay my rent on time. The two cats are both female, spayed and declawed, and not terribly loud or destructive. They keep each other company well enough when I'm not around.

I'm not going to be in a position to move any earlier than March 1, because I'm waiting for a tax refund check to be able to make moving expenses.

I'd also be interested in Crown Heights, Fort Greene, Park Slope, and other neighborhoods in the area.

Help! Please feel free to PM me if you have ANY leads or suggestions. And if any DH'ers here are kindly landlords, let's talk!