Support Christina's Journey to Stability

Hello, my name is Christina, I’m disabled, a former housewife & I’ve been “couch surfing” (Housing insecure) since late 2023. My story covers a series of unfortunate events, spanning the last 4 years. However, 2023 was the worst year by far, I have yet to recover. Grab a beverage & a snack and settle in, this'll be a long read. I'll do my best to tell my story in chronological order and explain how I ended up in my current situation. Also, I'll explain what I hope to do to gain stability moving forward.

The purpose of this fund raiser is to lift me out of a bad living situation, and by extension, help a friend of mine who is homeless, get off the street.

You'll be helping me with my down payment to buy a manufactured home, but more importantly, helping me provide a bedroom and shared space to my dear friend, Steve, He has income but it's low enough that he is currently completely unhoused and living in his car. I would be able to rent to him with a clear conscious because I do not have a profit motive. He can afford to pay me a portion of the mortgage in exchange for a safe, comfortable room and a fully equipped kitchen. (He loves to cook). You'll also be helping me keep my cat.

Your donation would essentially be going to a micro-non-profit for affordable housing in our area. I can write a donation letter for your 2025 taxes if you would like. Send me a private message here with your email for your tax deduction letter.

I'll soon tell my story but first let me answer some common questions:

Q: Why am I trying to buy a home instead or renting?

A: Simply put, I can buy a manufactured home for a much lower (shared) monthly payment than renting an apartment on my own. Also rents tend to go up every year, with no guarantee of lease renewals if the owner decides to sell. HUD/The Section 8 voucher program, has a 2-year waiting list. For the sake of my mental health, I cannot wait that long to move out of my current situation. The challenge my of renting right now, even if I share with an apartment to lower costs, is the lease process. I'm on a fixed income, with a less than stellar FICO score. For the last 2 years I have dealt with rejections on apartment applications and additional requirements that had doubled the amount needed for a deposit. There are a lot of hoops to jump through with no guarantee that I'll have a safe, stable home. Which is needed for me to heal from the trauma of the last 4 years. Buying however, affords me more stability.

Q: Why can't I move out of the LA area for cheaper overhead?

A: I'm not currently able to move because it's vital that I keep my Dr and my emotional support network. I need to stay close to my friends. My story includes a lot of traumas, so my need for my friends isn't just for superficial social connections. Also, my cat is elderly and has had the same veterinarian since he was a kitten. It keeps his care consistent.

Q: Why raise money for my down payment instead of borrowing it?

A: I don't currently qualify for most personal loans. The loans that I do qualify for have monthly payments and interest rates that are higher than I can comfortably afford.

This isn't due to blatant irresponsibility on my part. A little over 2 years ago, I had great credit (780 FICO) and savings in the bank. But then the events of 2023 happened. I lost all of my money. (A total of $33,000.00!) It's the primary reason that ended up in my current living situation.

Q: Why crowd-fund rather than borrowing from family?

A: My family does not have the financial resources to help me with this down payment. I'm hoping that kind philanthropists will see the value of my tax deduction letter.

Q: Have I looked into down payment assistance programs?

A: Yes, I'm currently looking into this, however the home may not meet the requirements for the program. And I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the 10% of buying price for a down payment. This is a manufactured home, which are often excluded from California first time home buyer programs. I've left messages with CADPA & CalHFA. I'm waiting on a reply.

Additionally, these programs usually have the same requirements as an FHA loan, which is heavily based on FICO scores. The mobile home park uses internal financing. Their requirements are based on DTI, (debt to income radio) rather than FICO score and has a lower income threshold for financing. (which is why the homes are more affordable in the area) My DTI and income are well within their requirements so I'm halfway there.

However, if it turns out that this home is able to qualify for down payment assistance, then the funds raised here will be added to my total down payment. This would make my offer more attractive and lower my monthly payments.

Q: How will these donations be used specifically?

A: I will save all donations until the 10% goal is met. Then I'll be ready to make my offer on the home that I want. These funds will serve as a down payment only. Any closing costs I will need to cover. We'll go through the escrow process, and you will be updated when I close on my home and get my keys! After that I will be on my way to regaining stability! (With Steve and my cat in tow.)

Honestly this opportunity could be life-changing! I have been through the ringer and all my former

Now on to my story of how I got here:

On March 17th, 2021, I found out that my partner of 15 years, was having an affair. This affair wasn’t a short fling; I found out that he had been lying to me for years. (Not that a short fling is any better, but it just cut deep.) Since 2018 he had been neglecting our marriage in favor of putting the TLC that I needed into his affair partner. What’s worse is, even though I have a compromised immune system, he’d go be intimate with her and then would come home and crawl in bed with me, during the most dangerous early days of the pandemic! (Hypothetically, his behavior could have killed me!)

I was devastated to say the least. I had built my whole life around this man, not intentionally, it just worked out that way. I invested in him, before thinking of myself. His education, his car, his job, his development, all took priority. He was the higher earner, and I had my mom to take care of. (until she died) I didn’t worry because I never thought he would ever betray me. It was a good life, I thought. until it was gone. I didn’t know that I was doing myself such a grave disservice by playing a traditional role.

Honestly, since then, my life has yet to settle down enough for me to begin to heal from this trauma. I’ve developed a legitimate diagnosis of PTSD from everything that has happened leading up to, during, and since our divorce.

In May of 2022 we sold our home (a home that I loved and didn’t want to lose*) in the process of divorce. I had some spousal minimal support, a little bit of equity from the sale of my home which I put into savings, and I was trying to learn a new trade. (I enrolled in school shortly after I found out about the affair.) I focused on school for the rest of 2022.

*Side note: since my early teens, I grew up in foster care, always moving, so all my adult life I’ve dreamed of having a safe, stable, home of my own. I had realized that dream just before we got married, but then more than a decade later, my home was ripped away. For what? My ex-husband's lies? For the sake of a clean divorce? My sense of loss is palpable. I can feel it in my chest every day.

With my plans to create a new life for myself in mind, I didn’t think it would be as hard as it had been to start over. It seems silly now in retrospect. I’m, frankly, more disabled by multiple chronic health issues than I initially realized. I'm in my 50s, and at the time of divorce had a 10yr gap in my resume. The reality of today's job market has been a very cruel teacher since then.

Leading up to summer 2023, I realized that my Fibromyalgia made it increasingly more difficult for me to keep up with my classes. My student loans were piling up into tens of thousands of dollars and I worried about my ability to pay them off before the age of 65.

I did the math on how long it would take me to finish school at the rate I was going, how much that could cost and realized that I couldn’t afford to continue. I reluctantly dropped out of school.

No worries I thought, I’ll pivot! I’ll just sign up for those ride share/ delivery apps and use my car to earn income. Easy right?! I was too optimistic. I had to jump through a lot of hoops to try and find affordable insurance that I could rely on while I drove strangers around the city. It took time, and I hit a lot of dead ends and became discouraged.

I was in the middle of this process when on June 6th, 2023, I was rear-ended by an uninsured driver. I was alone in my car because I hadn’t started working yet. If I thought my luck was bad before, this accident marked the beginning of a sharp downward spiral.

I wasn’t seriously injured, thank God (and I’m used to dealing with chronic pain) but my car on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. Dealing with car insurance is never fun, but in southern California it’s nearly impossible. It took until October of 2023 to have my OWN insurance fix my car. And by then a lot of other terrible things had happened.

After my accident I was getting worried about my shrinking savings account and the fact that my lease would need renewal soon. I had enough alimony to cover rent but had to rely on credit to eat. I had been paying my credit cards out of savings and that gave me anxiety every month. I hoped to offset my expenses by taking driving gigs, but the accident shot that plan down.

Days after my accident, I was approached by an online education service that specialized in helping people start digital businesses. I decided to take a chance and build a website with them. The initial fee seemed reasonable, and they said they would help me every step of the way, to build up to 5 ecommerce websites. Great! I can make this work, I thought.

My first week seemed to go well, but as time went on, they repeatedly overcharged me and added a ton of hidden fees. The quality of their “lessons” wasn’t very good either. By mid-July they had charged me a whopping $20,000.00 I couldn’t believe it! I cancelled my contract and demanded to be reimbursed. They assured me that they would reimburse the “unused” portion of my contract, but in the end, nothing was reimbursed. I could no longer reach them with the contact number that I had. It was a scam.

When I tried to dispute it with my credit card company, nothing happened there either. I reported it to the police and consumer affairs but again, but ultimately, I had to eat those charges. This terrified me because I wouldn’t have enough funds to finish the year at this rate. I felt a lot of shame that I had allowed this sort of thing to happen to me.

Around this same time, I had the gut feeling that my husband’s mistress had been cyber stalking me. I was getting suspicious DMs and friend requests from a multitude of fake accounts and she even had people watching my Facebook profile. I later learned that she is a serial affair partner, and married men were her type. She wanted to see the effect that she had on me. Not that the fault of cheating isn’t squarely on my ex-husband. But she sure as heck helped him ruin our marriage. And that destroyed my ability to trust people! (I’ve been alone this whole time, not going to date anytime soon, if ever.)

I also learned that she has a criminal record for having stabbed someone, year before. I learned this because I had reached out to my ex for financial help after the ecommerce debacle, but he said he had problems of his own. In talking to him I found out that his mistress had tried to stab him. This, and the cyber stalking made me very paranoid. I couldn’t sleep properly and when I did, I had nightmares of her coming after me with a knife. (I still have these nightmares to this day.)

On July 17th, 2023, I had major stomach surgery, and it took me longer to recover than normal due to auto immune disease and other issues that cause inflammation. I also developed post-surgical depression and combined with the lingering sadness of having lost my husband and home the year before, the stress of being stalked and PTSD symptoms, I was an absolute mess emotionally. It was hard not to beat myself up for failing at life and being fearful of the future. My lease would expire that month, and I wasn’t sure if I could continue paying rent at my current rate. I ended up renewing it on a month-to-month basis because what happened next was too much to bear.

On July 27th, 2023, my brother called me and informed me that my son had passed away, only 3 months shy of his 32nd birthday. All color and meaning drained out of the world. And if I’m honest it hasn’t come back, not yet. I cannot express how this affected me. I just stayed in bed.

On August 9th,2023 I got a call from a man who said he was with a major bank that I had an account with. He had all my personal information, my SSN my DOB everything that a bank would use to verify my identity. He asked me yes or no questions, so I didn’t have to tell him any of my information. He said that there was a security breach and that all my accounts were compromised. He said that he would walk me through detailed instructions on how I can protect my accounts.

I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was solidly in a state of fear that I would lose everything that I had left. I’m ashamed to say that I followed his instructions like an idiot and didn’t realize that I was getting scammed (again) until after he zeroed out all my bank accounts, my checking and my entire savings. ($13,000.00 in total.) Yet again, I had to file a local police report and another with the DOJ. This is pure speculation, but I think the ecommerce scammers sold my information somehow. I hired a private investigator and white hat hackers, to try and recover my money, but nothing has come of it so far, as of April 2025. I don’t think I’ll ever see my money again. They got away with it. It's a terrible injustice and if feels indescribably awful. In less than 2 months I lost all joy in my life and $33,000.00! Which was my only safety net after the traumatic loss of my marriage and home.

I couldn’t pay my rent for September so I did the only thing I could do, I called my landlord and tearfully explained what had happened. Hot with shame, I gave my 30-day notice, she kindly let me have 60. I packed up everything I had, put it into a storage unit and prepared to give my cat back to my ex. I planned to sleep in my car until I paid my debt and could get back on my feet.

In October 2023 I told my ex-husband what was happening and asked him if his landlord would let him have a cat. He admitted that he had just bought a house and that he didn’t want me to sleep on the street. He assured me that his now ex- mistress didn’t have his new address so that I would be safe there.

His new home was 90miles away, far from my friends, but I reluctantly accepted. He owed me as much after everything that had happened, didn’t he? And so, I moved myself, my cat and a suitcase, into his house.

Since November 2023 I've been uncomfortably sleeping in his open concept dining room since then. I have no privacy, and I can’t say that I’m emotionally safe here. (He’s on his 2nd girlfriend since our divorce and she doesn’t like that I’m here.)

On the advice of my Dr, I applied for SSDI last spring (February 2024) but was recently denied, and I’m amid an appeal now. I plan to keep appealing until I get approval.

From November 2023 to June 2024, I still collected partial alimony (minus utilities) and applied the balance to my debt.

Then in June 2024, my ex was laid off, which stopped his payments for spousal support. We both rallied around each other while he was unemployed. He has managed to keep his home and mercifully, a few weeks ago, he got a good, solid job. However, I was without any income during his job-hunting period. (Nine months felt like nine years!)

As we both try to return to normalcy; I can tell that he expects me to move out, now that I have income again. My leaving would honestly be a lot better for my mental health too. Everything in this house reminds me of a life that I helped build but am no longer a part of.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to move forward. I've created a budget that works for me and if I can keep my housing cost to 1/3rd of my monthly income, I’ll be able to pay off my debt and finally begin to recover.

I must hang onto hope.

With that said, I can’t physically work enough hours to fully support the kind of high rents that have become normal now. My spousal support wouldn't be enough on its own.

Also, my cat limits my options. His name is Blue, and he doesn’t play well with other animals. Most shared housing situations that allow pets will have multiple pets. And I would also need to pay for storage if I’m sharing a smaller space.

Which now brings us to why I'm sharing my story here…

Looking forward at the rest of 2025 and having recently compared hundreds of potential living spaces, I realized something. It’s cheaper for me to buy and share a 3 bed 2 bath manufactured home, than it is to rent. For the same price as a tiny closet of an apartment with a mini fridge and microwave pretending to be a “kitchen”, I can have my own bed & bathroom, a full kitchen, and my cat can have the run of the house without worry.

I’ve done the math, even with the land lease and on my current income (without SSDI) I can afford the monthly payments with roommates. I have friends who are willing to share the place, and I have someone who has agreed to co-sign for me.

I found a beautiful newly manufactured home in a nice park in North Hollywood (priced under 200K! almost unheard of in southern California!) and it suits me well. It’s close to my friends, so I’ll have my emotional support system back. And as a bonus I'll be able to help my friend, Steve, get into a safe, clean environment after being homeless for a long time.

I hope, crowd funding comes to our rescue!

With all that you've just read, it's understandable that I need to catch a break. My nervous system is worn out from having been in overdrive for four solid years. I need a safe, stable place to heal my heart, away from my ex, and try to find a new path forward. My ultimate goal is to raise enough for a 10% down payment, but for now, I’m starting with 5% and will update from there.

I would be eternally grateful if compassionate and generous people would help me to (again) realize my lifelong dream of having a safe place to call home.

My old cat would be grateful too! And don't forget, I will write a tax deduction letter for you. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

Please share this!

Many eyes increase the chance of meeting my goal.

Thank you, Christina.