It's a blow to our pride, both mine and Mark's to be here, asking you for help. We've both worked our entire lives and in fact, we continue to work to this day.

Unfortunately, our income has not kept pace with rising costs, and we've been finding it increasingly difficult to manage for the past five or six years. Things got much harder last fall when I was placed on a six-month medical leave of absence, resulting in a 45% reduction in my usual income. Still, we kept going, day by day. We were behind on many bills, but were working to get caught up, and we were seeing progress ...

But this week our ability to manage came to an end.

We are losing our home of 23 years. Our landlord is ill and can no longer look after the property. It has been sold, and we have 90 days to vacate the premises. As long-term tenants, our rent has been substantially below current market rates. We will need to secure first and last (damage deposit) utility transfer, and moving costs. We are hoping to do most of it ourselves, but may need to hire help for bigger items.

Also living here is my daughter and our family pets. All of us are about to be homeless. May will say "get rid of the pets". Not only are our pets family members - they are essential to my mental health and well-being, so that is not an option - we WILL find a home that will allow us to keep them.

The city and surrounding area where we live are experiencing a critical housing shortage, with both sales and rents increasing by 45% to 65% over the past three years and a vacancy rate of less than 1.7%. We have very few options - in our current home, our rent has not increased in more than 10 years.

In addition to having to find a new home at double, if not more than, what we currently pay, we are behind on our utilities and expect to be disconnected within a matter of days. We usually make enough to get by, even if it's tight; however, falling behind during my leave caused our house of cards to collapse, and we need help getting back on our feet.

Essentially, we need to come up with the money to locate a new home, pay the first and last month's rent, tenant insurance, utility arrears, as well as new hookups, and hire movers, as we are not physically able to do the heavy lifting on our own.

We are selling any non-essential furniture, tools, etc., but it won't be nearly enough. Anything at all will be greatly appreciated and responsibly used. And when we can, we'll pay it forward.

I know times are tough for everyone ... even 5.00 - 10.00 makes a difference. If you can't help at this time, you can still support us by sharing, keeping your eyes/ears open for housing possibilities for us, and just sending positive thoughts.