Help a Family Find a Home - Broome County

Dear Family & Friends,

Recently my sister, Erica, and her family of 5 were abruptly displaced from their housing due to unsafe living conditions. They have been homeless since October 4, 2022. Erica is gainfully employed as a CNA, and as many of you know, CNAs are essential to our healthcare system, overworked, and underpaid. Despite efforts to obtain assistance from the county, she was denied the temporary assistance necessary to secure permanent housing due to being “ALICE” with an income barely above the qualifying assistance threshold. People with income just above the poverty level face many of the same hardships experienced by those below the poverty threshold. Still, these folks do not qualify to receive the desperately needed assistance. This financial “no man’s land” falls under the Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) threshold. In Broome County, 26.8% of households live below the ALICE threshold and are struggling to meet their needs for basic survival.

Erica has been provided three nights of emergency assistance to cover temporary housing in a motel. At the same time, she searches for a place to rent and tries to save the funds needed to cover the cost of a security deposit, the first month's rent and, in some cases, the last month’s rent. Being displaced even further from her place of work, complying with the assistance application process, and searching for housing, has led to additional money spent on gas and missed work days, further reducing the amount available to be saved for rental expenses. Her emergency fund now depleted, she finds herself and her children in crisis.

My sister and her family mean everything to me, so I am making a plea for help from my community. We are working to raise funds and find housing as fast as possible to reestablish a sense of normality for the family and allow the kids to return their focus to school. Ideally, we would like to find a rental in the same school district that they were initially displaced from so that the kids can maintain their educational relationships. Rental properties currently available in the Union-Endicott school district range from $800-$1200 monthly, plus a security deposit. I hope to raise $3500 to cover the first month’s rent, security deposit expense and some furnishings to get them back on their feet.

Attempting to break out of the cyclical nature of poverty and homelessness can be compared to the punishment of Sisyphus, who was damned to perpetually push a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back to the bottom just as he reaches the top. The current system is insufficient to support the people who need help. Pick any point in the cycle, and it is inextricably linked to the other factors that keep someone trapped in the web of poverty.

Please help me help my family break out of this cycle and consider donating; any amount helps!

For "cup of coffee" donations of less than $5, please Venmo: @MichaelaMcDaniels

Thank you!

Michaela McDaniels