Home for a Disabled Veteran
I am a disabled veteran of the United States Air Force. Five years ago,my orderly life was thrown into utter chaos. My mother died without warning in July. Then, in November, I was fired from my job of eight years because the progression of my disability made it increasingly difficult to perform my duties. Qualifying for Social Security Disability and an increased VA Disability Rating was a long and arduous process, during which I had little money to live on. One challenge was looking for a less expensive apartment, but finding someone willing to rent to someone with no job and no income was a very long and heartbreaking search. As a result, eviction proceedings were filed. Eventually, with the help of my father, I was finally able to secure a cheaper apartment in a building that had some issues, but not before an eviction judgment was ruled i court.
Just after I was awarded Social Security Disability, and was able to catch up bills and back rent, my apartment building was sold, rather than the owner spending what it would take to then bring the building up to code. The new owner would not only be bringing the building up to code, but planned a full renovation and asked all the tenants to move out, as he intended to create more upscale apartments, and an increase in the rent for each unit $345 a month - pricing people like me, and the other modest income tenants out of the running . While I now had a steady income, there were no funds for a new apartment's start up costs and moving moving expenses. With an eviction on my record it was even more difficult to find someone willing to rent to me. It took six months, but I was finally able to find an apartment and again my father came through to assist with the financial burden, and it seemed my troubles might be over and I would at last be able to relax and settle in to a new apartment, a new neigborhood - and be able to concentrate on taking care of myself. Little did I know at the time that within six months my sense of security would all completely unravel again.
In January of last year, my father succumbed to injuries he sustained in a November accident, when he was hit by a woman paying more attention to her cell phone. Then, in July, my upstairs neighbor told me that the apartment I was living in was formerly used as a meth lab. The summer heat was causing a release of chemical fumes the he could even smell in his apartment above me. It explained so much of what was happening to me - an increase of intensity of all my symptoms, and new one; drowsiness and lethargy, head aches and shortness of breath. I am particularly vulnerable because I spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week at home. That is also the reason was difficult for me to smell the fumes. Once again, it was time to start looking for a new place to live.
Unfortunately, rental prices were steadily going up. It is difficult to even find a place I can afford, and then the problems of two evictions, and now shoddy credit made me an unacceptable risk to property owners. Having now lost both my parents in the span of five years, I was now on my own. What is obvious is that the best solution to my problems is not another apartment, but to buy a clean, safe home of my own. The problem with buying a house is that no lender will take the risk given my credit history and low credit score. While I qualify for a VA loan guaranty, I have been unable to find a lender who will give me a loan.
I desperately need to get out of this contaminated environment. I don't want to have to keep moving from one apartment to another at the whims of property owners. There are modest little homes in the area that would be just perfect for me. I just need help to pay for one given that I cannot get help from financial institutions. Could you please help me?
