My name is Berty. I am a disabled dog mom, and I need your help to keep from becoming unhoused.

Here’s the quick version; my ex is kicking me out of our house on Aug 1 so he and his girlfriend can move in. Ideally I would just move on, but I have a few giant issues: I use a big 420lb wheelchair, I’m on SSI (disability for people who were disabled before they could pay into social security), and I have 2 medium dogs (one is a service dog). One would think that I would have programs and government projects out the wazoo to keep me from sleeping in the local parks, but the last two years of constant looking and endless letters, emails, and calls have shown me that wheelchair users were not really on anyone's mind when they planned out housing in Eugene and Springfield.

The quick and dirty of it is that wheelchair accessible units make up for 3% of all subsidized housing and people don’t leave until they pass on. I was told that it takes an average of 10 years to have your name come up for an accessible unit. Note: I do not mean that it's a fancypants unit built for wheelchairs, with grab bars and lowered cabinets. By accessible, I simply mean that a wheelchair can get into the unit without being a fire hazard.

Amazingly, the math is even worse for shelters and emergency housing. There is one shelter that can accommodate a wheelchair, but the waitlist for the one accessible spot is months long. This wheelchair accessible shelter space is two metal pallets stuck together with no electricity or plumbing. That means no heat for my arthritic body, no power to plug in my giant wheelchair each night, and no bathroom for my over-eager bladder.

In the private renting sector I have not had much luck either. Being disabled does not pay well, and my rent cap is pretty low... About $500 a month. There are places for $500 or less, but I have found that if I can afford it, it can’t accommodate my wheelchair.

Bonus complication: I will have two surgeries to put 4 screws into my pelvis and lower spine starting on May 26, 2026.

My friends and I have come up with 2 realistic options while I wait for my name to come up on a wheelchair accessible place in my price range.

1. Couch surf

2. Live in an RV

The issue here is, I don’t have a wheelchair accessible car to transport me, my dogs, and my wheelchair, or an RV to house me, my dogs, and my wheelchair. I need to raise $30,000 to either buy a used wheelchair accessible vehicle or a used RV that is either built for a wheelchair, can be fit with a ramp (min 30” door opening), or is a toy hauler.

For the adventurous among you who want to know the whole story:

I was born with an odd disease called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. It affects the physical structure of collagen, which makes up a very large portion of the body from cartilage and bone to muscle and tissue. My parents were baffled by my ability to dislocate my joints doing simple things, like learning how to walk or being picked up from under the arms. Instead of checking with a doctor, my parents decided prayer was the only path to take, so I went undiagnosed until I was 24.

By then I was well into osteoarthritis from joint wear, very dependent on a wheelchair, and my organs were showing signs of breakdown. At my doctor's recommendation I applied for SSI (Supplemental Security Income), a program that is meant to augment the incomes of adults with disabled children, but is also used for adults who have not worked enough before the onset of disability to qualify for SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance).

Because SSI is meant as an augment, it does not pay enough to live independently. So, I moved in with family. This ended when I started shielding my sister's child from her when she was being physically violent. She punished me by blocking access to food, water, and the exits of the house we rented together. I was removed by adult protective services and placed into a nursing home. This was not a good solution for me as nursing homes are meant for people who are unable to control their day to day lives. By agreeing to live in a nursing home I was agreeing to a curfew, not having control of my money, having my daily activities planned for me, and having them consistently feed me things I was allergic to.

My partner had moved to Oregon about a year prior to this after his alcoholism became unmanageable. In Oregon he was celebrating his sobriety and working a good job, so I reached out to him for help. He suggested that we move in together in Oregon. So, he took a plane to Colorado and we came here in a moving truck in March of 2017.

Once we got settled and I developed a routine with my home healthcare provider, we started on a journey to own a home. In 2020, we found a house and bought it with the help of my partner’s father. Back in the day when I first got approved for SSI, I was told by a government employee that I could not own anything, no car and no house, so I did not put my name on the title. (Only recently did I find out that I was given incorrect information and that I am, in fact, allowed to own the house I live in and one car).

We lived in the house together, working to make the house wheelchair accessible, and converting the yard into an oasis for bugs, vegetables, and native plants. We adopted a second dog together so my service dog would have a companion when she retired. I started making jewelry out of abandoned toys and he dove into the waters of selling his art.

Things started to change in 2021, when my partner wanted to become my full time caretaker. He started using, again. Like most addicts, he thought he could control it. But once a year became every holiday, then every weekend, then every evening, then all the time. He very quickly got frightening: using intimidation and coercion, breaking objects, and kicking the dogs when he was irritated. It got to the point that the dogs and I would wince whenever he laughed too loudly. I would have to beg for help with showers, and no mess was ever cleaned without a burst of rage, despite being paid to do these precise tasks. He started refusing to let me go anywhere in the car.

I could not fire him. We were both dependent on the money he was making. I could only pay 40% of the mortgage by myself. I encouraged him to find new work, but he always talked me out of it, telling me that this new system he was designing would definitely-for-sure work this time.

I succeeded in getting him to get a different job, and a couples counselor, a good two years after I initially requested it. But, my fear of him was so palpable by then that strangers were asking what was going on. The couple counselor went over the typical behaviors in domestic violence cases and pushed me to end things before my partner could become physically violent with me. She was so intimidated by his aggressive behavior that she asked my permission to have a police officer on the premises during sessions.

August 12, 2024 I told him that I could not live in fear of him anymore and I needed to end things. We talked about the housing situation with the counselor. My now ex said that it was my house and he would be the one to leave if we needed to live apart. The counselor was not sure that he would keep his verbal contract, so she encouraged me to write a lease, ensuring me enough time to get into housing. We thought two years would be sufficient; Aug 2024 - July 2026.

Five months later, he forgot that we signed a lease and told me I had 90 days to move out. He wanted to move his girlfriend into our house. I had to remind him of the leasing agreement. He decided instead to get a place for him and his girlfriend elsewhere.

I talked to every organization and government program I could think of to get advice. I did not qualify for the Domestic Violence voucher. It is only available to people who have been physically assaulted, and even if I got the voucher, it only pays move-in costs to a new place, and would not secure me affordable housing.

So I looked outward for housing. Community houses, subleases, room rentals, auxiliary dwelling units, subsidized apartments, special programs… but it seems that if I can afford it, my wheelchair can’t fit in the unit. I was looking at 10 years for a wheelchair accessible subsidized space to open up. I communicated this with my former partner, and suggested that we extend my lease. My thought was that I could get a roommate to cover his portion of the mortgage and he could live with his new partner, but he said no.

Then hope reappeared when I got an email from Homes for Good letting me know that a new fully accessible housing project was opening up, but I could only apply via referral. So, I called my case manager, who sent a memo to the housing navigator. She came to my house to fill out the form. The application was finalized and stamped on October 13, 2025.

I had been seeing a spine specialist about surgery on my lower back and pelvis. In January, the doctor and I agreed that surgery is the best course of action. I communicated this with my ex, and he had a lawyer contact me to tell me that I could not stay in the house after the agreed on date. Shortly after this, I got a letter from the housing navigator letting me know that she would no longer be at SDS (Senior and Disabled Services) and my case would be transferred.

I wanted to be sure that things were running smoothly and I could plan my move around surgery, so I called the intake line at Homes for Good. I learned that I was not on the waitlist. Not because I was rejected, but because they never received an application. The new navigator was able to find out that there had been an error in the filing of my application, and she rapidly got me on the list. But now instead of being one of the first applications submitted, I was number 164 in line to a building with only 81 units. I tried talking to Homes for Good directly about what happened in the hope that they could put me back to the top of the list. They said no.

I am looking into different routes to not sleep outside, and the options really do stink. But, I am going to try and keep my head above water while I wait for my name to come up for a unit. That might be as little as months, or as long as a year. There really is no telling how long it will take for the first apartment I am eligible for to become available. I need somewhere where I can feel safe during this uncertain time. Especially now that my surgery is formally scheduled and I will need rest.

If you made it to the end, thank you for reading about me. Please consider donating something to help me have a safe place to sleep until this can be sorted.