Help support Mike and Heather

Hi,

I'm Mike Katkowsky... It's very hard for me to do something like this, but at this point in time, I'm all out of options. I've battled with addiction for over half of my life and I'm at the ripe old age of 41 now. On April 26th I celebrated one year clean. Let me tell you it was not easy. This past year has been quite a journey for my pregnant wife and I. While still clean and sober, I've hit a new rock bottom.

My wife and I gave up everything to commit to long-term, in-patient treatment and reclaim our lives. We got out of rehab together on October 17th and were placed in an overflow homeless shelter. We were told that once space opened in a family shelter we would transition there, and from there the shelter would help provide housing for my wife and my children within approximately two weeks of arriving. On April 16th we were told to pack our things and move to the family shelter. During our intake, we were told that we could not stay because we do not have our children full time. During the last month of our addiction we were visited by child welfare services, the kids were removed from our care and went into the care of my parents, temporarily. The children were unable to stay with my parents and were moved into what is known as “fictive kin.” This is the terminology they use for naming distant relatives or friends of the family. We couldn't be happier with the family that they are with, knowing that they are loved and well cared for. Over the past year there have been multiple visits to court and with each court date there have been steps with stipulations to our eventual reunification with our children. Rehab, Intensive Out-Patient Therapy, five NA/AA meetings a week with attendance verification, two Urine Analaysis' per week, Individual Therapy, Couples Counseling, visits with the children, and the final piece of the puzzle, stable housing. We have done all of these things (and even a few bonus things not required but beneficial to recovery), consistently, without fail since our release from Long Term In-patient Rehab (which we entered on April 26th).

My wife is six and a half months pregnant and entering her third trimester of a high-risk pregnancy. Despite this, we were still denied admittance to the Family Shelter and were referred to the Montgomery County DHHS Crisis Center. After going back and forth between different stations at the center and explaining our situation, we were told that they would not help us get into a family shelter (despite having space), would not place us back in an overflow shelter (despite having space) and that our only potential option would be to separate and go to individual singles shelters, however, all singles shelters are full with no vacancy. We were essentially told to go kick rocks. "At least it's warm outside", said one of the workers.

During our time at overflow shelter we were given the opportunity to join a newly reopened county program (SHARP), which would provide us with housing for a whole year while we got back on our feet. The only thing in our way was finding some place that would take us. Due to our credit tanking because of collections accounts from being evicted, no one would take us. We looked and looked and looked, and were told no, no, no. We did not give up, we knew that SOMEONE would eventually accept us. After multiple attempts at contacting our caseworker without a response, we decided to email someone at the SHARP program directly. We received an immediate reply and were told that the program had been terminated a week prior, effective immediately. No one told us, no one called us, no one emailed us… Wow, all that time spent calling people, explaining our situation, setting up appointments to go see places to rent, wasted.

Today is our twenty-seventh day being homeless and living out of our car. For two of those weeks we were able to stay at the Red Roof Inn in Rockville, Md. The generosity of people in our network, old friends, and even some strangers allowed that to happen. We are so grateful for the help but our time there is up. Our funding has run out, but all is not lost. We are awaiting a response from the HOC program (Housing Opportunities Commission). We were selected to receive a voucher in August of last year but due to an error by the county we were not put into the HMIS System (a Homeless Database confirming homeless status) and were therefore denied the voucher. Although it was their mistake and not ours, we still had to wait and go through the official appeal process. That was a two month wait and occurred on February 6, 2025. We were told thirty days for a reply and are STILL waiting for a response. Calls, emails and visits to the HOC office have produced zero results thus far. On the bright side, a meeting with Catholic Charities looks promising in potentially helping us with a security deposit or first month's rent if we find a place to live. What we need now is temporary or short-term shelter for the next three months. The baby is due August 18th. Hopefully, by then HOC will have responded, and we will have housing but if not, once the baby comes the county will have to help us and will be obligated to place us in a shelter. Aside from the physical, mental and emotional stress of being homeless, I am worried for my wife and our future baby. She is high-risk and miscarriage is no stranger to us as she has had many. She is not getting proper nutrition or sleep, and I know that the level of stress she is experiencing can have detrimental effects on our unborn baby. We appreciate your prayers, help looking for shelter or any contributions you are willing to make.