Help Vivi Stay Housed

Hi all, I'm Vivi Rivera. I'm trying to raise funds because I've had an extremely tough few years and I fell into debt with my rent. In short, I've been working full time for 3 years now to try to minimize my arrears after falling behind when COVID kicked up. I've tried to apply to government aids, and pay as much as I can every month to try to catch up. Still, I am currently in court facing eviction. Thank you for stopping by and giving me your attention. If you want to know more about how this happened, you can read on below.

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The debt started happening after COVID lockdown. I returned to work when lockdown lifted, but was eventually laid off at my salon reception job of 3 years. Business declined drastically as the bulk of our clients moved or unfortunately died. There were no hours for me as I was a more "on-call" person. I was receiving unemployment, plus the enhanced payments being provided to those who were laid off. I was able to afford rent at this time because of the this, and because I'm under a rental assistance program in NY called Section 8. Section 8 pays a portion of your rent based on your income, and you re-certify with them annually so they can adjust accordingly. I was out of work for almost a year, until I finally started my job at Starbucks in 2021. I wanted to be productive, but this meant I lost my unemployment, and my income dropped to slightly above minimum wage.

I was only making $15.77 an hour as a barista during this time, which meant me falling behind drastically in rent, which was almost $1,000 a month, and I only worked part time. Now, I'm a supervisor for Starbucks, and have been for a couple of years now. I work long hours and it is physically demanding, so much that my health is suffering for it, but I'm good at my job and I didn't want to risk being paid less when I'm in this situation. I tried hard to save up and to start repaying my rent arrears.

I also dealt with a lot of issues with Section 8, so badly that I had to subpoena them in court. I lived with my brother up until he moved right before lockdown. During lockdown, all the offices were closed, and the yearly recertifications were automatically rolling over. At some point, my voucher with them was terminated in late 2019 without me knowing, then reinstated without me knowing, and the case was never updated because it recertification was being done automatically. The whole system was a complete mess from COVID. It was only this year after taking them to court could I finally remove my brother from my voucher, after 3 years of his income affecting my rent responsibilities.

I am in the process of being evicted, which started last year, and the situation is getting dire. I applied for Emergency Cash Assistance here in NYC, commonly known as a "One-Shot Deal." It's a one time interest free loan to help pay rent arrears. That alone has been an ordeal. I spent a year applying, going back and forth to the office, spending money on transportation, losing countless hours fighting with them, rushing to work, to keep getting denied. This means repeatedly going back to housing court to request more time. I finally found out I am ineligible for this loan because my income is "too high", as I'm a single person with no dependents,not (officially) disabled, and am ever so slightly above the poverty line. I spent a year being blamed for not providing sufficient documentation, which was ALWAYS untrue. I wasted a year on this, with not a single employee ever telling me I was being denied because of my income, even though my debt started accumulating because I was only making marginally above minimum wage.

I didn't want to ask for help, but I'm desperate and exhausted. My mental health has plummeted severely, and my anxiety has skyrocketed. I'm working through chronic illness and injury and have been racking up medical debt, pushing myself past my limits daily just to be able barely afford living in New York. In the last few months my normally mild asthma has flared up significantly. I landed in the emergency room from being so stressed that I thought I was having a heart attack, I've had so much imaging done for my bad hip and back to be told nothing is wrong with me, even though I can barely walk at times. All of this to try to make a decent amount of income, which prevents me from getting any form of help when I struggled.

I am now a full time supervisor with Starbucks, at an extremely demanding location, and I've tried my hardest to reduce my rent. Every month I reduce my debt little by little, going from over roughly $17,000 owed to $12,000. But my time runs short. My landlords are getting frustrated, and I get less time between court dates as time goes on. Eventually, a judge will altogether stop giving me more time. I have virtually no social life, and I am sacrificing my mental and physical health just to stay afloat and still face the possibility of homelessness. I've lived in my apartment since I was 5, and it was always my intention to move somewhere cheaper, and have all my hard work actually mean something, but I can't afford to move, as badly as I want to. My family both lived and died in this house- I sleep in the same room my dad died in. I only ask for help to stay in the only home I've ever really known,

All contributions go directly to my rent arrears. I've only asked for part of it, as I can keep making some payments myself and expect my tax return soon, which will help me a little. I would appreciate any help at all. If you can't afford to donate, a share would be immensely appreciated as well. Thank you for reading.