URGENT - Build a home for disabled Black, Trans, Solo Parent

Billi is an incredible, resilient single parent who has endured incredible hardship, loss and a horrific family tragedy. We need to raise $180,000 by August so that Billi’s community can build him and his kiddo a home of their own. This will ensure that they have safety and security after enduring years of housing instability including staying in a shelter with his child for nine months in 2024. This family deserves a home, as we all do.

Our Goal: We aim to purchase and build an eco-conscious 600-900 Sq Ft “casita” kit from New Frame Works of Northern Vermont for Billi and his three year old child, Sidney within the year 2025.

After spending months last year in a shelter and finally securing an apartment last October, he is now in need of permanent housing of his own so that he can support his family with power and autonomy. Billi is facing lack of safety and imminent displacement due to a list of blatant negligence, tenant rights violations and retaliation by his landlord. He is working with an attorney to be compensated for the damages caused by his most recent housing conditions. He is again at the mercy of a predatory landlord and a discriminatory housing market.

If you are like me, then you are feeling overwhelmed by this current moment - this is an opportunity to be empowered and take direct action. Join our efforts to ensure a stable path to permanent housing for B and his 3 year old, Sidney.

These next 3-5 months, we need to receive funds so that B can ensure a safe future for himself and his little one, finally allowing them to be free from a cycle of unstable housing and to truly, securely call their southern Vermont community home.

In these current political conditions, where trans people are under attack and where the new president is working to unravel the social safety net, we have to become the safety net. It has become clear that we can no longer rely on social services or basic human rights to keep us safe. It is essential for our communities to come together and support families like Billi’s to not only survive, but to thrive.

On May 22, 2022, B lost his only family in a horrific act of domestic violence. His sister, Victoria, and mother, Myrna, were both fatally shot by his sister’s ex-husband, who was also the father of her newborn child. His sister was shot and killed instantly, and his mother was holding Victoria’s newborn when she was shot. She remained in a coma for seven months before succumbing to complications from her injuries on December 5, 2022. Devastatingly, B was prevented from being by his mother’s bedside during her final days due to the control and abuse of his former partner, the father of his now three-year-old child. An article is linked here.

Following the murders of his Mother and Sister, his entire nucleus, B and his toddler have endured repeated, devastating housing crises while B is in a health crisis of notable magnitude.. B was forced to leave his previous apartment in March 2024 after developing health issues due to a severe mold infestation. With Vermont’s ongoing housing crisis, he and his toddler spent 9 months in a family shelter before finally securing an apartment in October 2024.

However, upon moving in, Billi discovered that the landlord had failed to disclose hazardous living conditions, including chipping lead paint, mold, broken windows, and serious structural dangers. When he raised these concerns within weeks of moving in, the landlord responded immediately with threats of eviction and intimidation. After months of advocacy, mediation, and unaddressed repair requests, the landlord sent an uncertified handyman to perform unsafe lead removal, disregarding proper, legally mandated safety protocols. When B voiced his concerns, the landlord immediately retaliated by sending a termination of lease notice. For the past month, they have been discussing settlement, as the landlord has admitted to their negligence.

In the midst of all of this, B has been diagnosed with a number of severely ailing disabilities. After leaving the apartment where mold had been discovered in March, B was diagnosed with Dysautonomia and POTS, both conditions caused by the complications of Long COVID. He was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, caused as it seems, by the long term exposure to the mold in his home and as of this year, he was diagnosed with EDS (Elhers Danlo’s Syndrome) a disorder of the connective tissue in the body. These diagnoses explained the passed three years of worsening chronic fatigue, spells of debilitating full body pain, chronic malaise, unrelenting GI problems, brain fog, heart palpitations with severe chest pain and many other complications, causing a major decline to his physical and mental health. Thankfully, Sidney has remained in good health and is a child thriving immensely in a beautiful school, with a beautiful community, because of B’s steadfastness and his faith in a future brighter than the days behind him.

All of these developments compounding upon one another have put this family in a position of great need from their chosen family and community at large.

Billi believes in the power of collective liberation. It is our shared belief that so much is possible when we mobilize for each other in our deepest seasons of need. Right now, this family needs us.

B is actively navigating tenants rights and will be represented in this matter by an attorney assigned to him through Vermont Legal Aid, but bureaucratic obstacles continue to delay real solutions. This family needs your support to get out of the cycles of rental housing instability and to begin their healing journey.

B and his child deserve a future where they can heal, thrive, and celebrate life, and for them, that means having a permanent home. His fortitude in the face of so much adversity, to be a parent who is unwavering in his commitment to providing immeasurable support, safety and care for his little one, is admirable to say the least. B is someone who truly dedicates every single day to making the world better for his child and his community. Let’s come together to realize the Better World we all know is real and is possible when we are a village of solidarity in action.

Your generosity can make a profound difference in securing B and Sidney’s future’s. Please consider contributing and sharing widely—every donation makes a difference.

Thank you for standing in solidarity with this family. It starts with us.