Help Tara and Richard save their home

Hello, I’m Tara. Some of you might know me from the Seattle latenight/club scene, or the quarterly local artist bazaars I organize for a local non-profit that serves the LGBTQ+ community.

About a year and a half ago, my partner, the only person bringing in income, was injured at work. The injury became infected with necrotizing bacteria, and he was hospitalized for 3 months and underwent several surgeries to save his leg. During the time he was in the hospital, L&I stopped paying his benefits, leaving me to use the last of my savings to keep us afloat until we could get the issue with worker’s comp resolved, or receive temporary disability payments from SSDI. Meanwhile, I, a dialysis patient with a rather erratic schedule, started applying for remote jobs to help bring income in. Unfortunately, most of those jobs required a training period that was in-person and conflicting with my dialysis schedule.

Meanwhile, we were being denied assistance from DSHS because we had too much money in savings, even though I was burning through it to pay rent and bills.

About two months into my partner’s hospitalization, I was hospitalized for the flu and an extremely low red blood cell count. I was in for about a week, while they treated me for extreme flu symptoms and did blood tests, all of which were inconclusive. Later, ultrasound imaging would find that my spleen was enlarged. My liver showed some damage, and my gallbladder walls were thickened, all the result of a secondary viral infection which took about two months to recover from..

during the hospitalizations and illnesses, we would periodically apply to DSHS and we continue to be denied.

About a month after my partner was discharged from the hospital and able to come home, I injured my back seriously enough that it impacted my ability to walk for several months..

During all the illnesses and accidents, we were fighting L&I, and begging DSHS for help. We eventually got food assistance, but we’re still not eligible for cash.

I had to start selling my shoes, articles of clothing, jewelry, collectibles-anything of value to pay rent and bills while dealing with L&I appeals and A DSHS bureaucracy.

Eventually, I Ean out of stuff to sell, and could not pay rent in full . Our landlord was aware of the situation, and had been very understanding, but now we are in arrears for approximately $11,000, and we are still not eligible closer to receiving assistance, because the program we were applying for isn’t currently receiving federal funding.

We have lived in this house for 23 years. It is very much our home, and we would hate to lose it. Please help us .