Accessible Housing
Donation protected
My name is Whitney Wages. I am disabled and have been forced out of my rental home in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic due to my political beliefs. This is not a protected status and neither is social class. I have lived all over the great state of Mississippi and due to my economic limitations, I need help in finding and securing appropriate housing. I am on the section 8 voucher program.
I have been in poverty my whole adult life. I have moved so many times and have never had stability, I don't even know what that really looks like. Now is the time to feel empowered and vulnerable and to speak out. It is election season and tensions are high. This is just one access hurdle for someone like me. My identity may not just involve my disabilities, but it has certainly effected my life in every way and has greatly limited the opportunities that are available to me.
This has been a struggle my whole adult life due to my disabilities and employability due to them. I currently am on disability and am high risk for mortality from COVID19. I have been terrorized into not wanting to fight the termination of my month to month lease. My landlord lived on the property and you can find out more about her, me, and this situation through this investigative piece by Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today:
https://mississippitoday.org/2020/08/20/trump-supporter-kicks-tenant-out-after-political-disagreement-showing-renters-live-at-the-whims-of-landlords/
I do not feel safe going back on the property. I have been accused of stealing things, my outdoor plants have been threatened with weed killer, and I have been terrorized through text messages. I honestly do not want this to ever happen again to me. I need safety. I need to thrive in order to survive this. Right now, I am living at my partner's home and have all of my things in storage because I have not been able to secure section 8 housing that is within a price range I can afford, safe, sanitary, accessible, and cat friendly(Wilson is in the picture with me, he has been in my life since 2014). I do not know when that will happen, if it will happen...but I am exhausted from the search itself. I have made over 200 phone calls since July 24, 2020 just to be shut down after asking the question "Do you take section 8?"
I have been in poverty my whole adult life. I have moved so many times and have never had stability, I don't even know what that really looks like. Now is the time to feel empowered and vulnerable and to speak out. It is election season and tensions are high. This is just one access hurdle for someone like me. My identity may not just involve my disabilities, but it has certainly effected my life in every way and has greatly limited the opportunities that are available to me.
This has been a struggle my whole adult life due to my disabilities and employability due to them. I currently am on disability and am high risk for mortality from COVID19. I have been terrorized into not wanting to fight the termination of my month to month lease. My landlord lived on the property and you can find out more about her, me, and this situation through this investigative piece by Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today:
https://mississippitoday.org/2020/08/20/trump-supporter-kicks-tenant-out-after-political-disagreement-showing-renters-live-at-the-whims-of-landlords/
I do not feel safe going back on the property. I have been accused of stealing things, my outdoor plants have been threatened with weed killer, and I have been terrorized through text messages. I honestly do not want this to ever happen again to me. I need safety. I need to thrive in order to survive this. Right now, I am living at my partner's home and have all of my things in storage because I have not been able to secure section 8 housing that is within a price range I can afford, safe, sanitary, accessible, and cat friendly(Wilson is in the picture with me, he has been in my life since 2014). I do not know when that will happen, if it will happen...but I am exhausted from the search itself. I have made over 200 phone calls since July 24, 2020 just to be shut down after asking the question "Do you take section 8?"
Organizer
Whitney Wages
Organizer
Oxford, MS
