Housing for Martin

Update on Martin's Housing - 2/12/2022
Martin has found a possible housing situation! It is a room in a home in East Palo Alto. It looks like it will be a very good fit for him. He is in need of $3000 more in order to secure the room for a 6 month stay starting mid-Feb. This will cover the security deposit, 6 months of rent and 6 months of household expenses (water, electricity etc.)

A third of the funds raised so far was used in the weekly motel stay and the rest will now be used towards this housing opportunity. Thank you all for your contributions to date. 


Initial Story - 12/18/2021
I am creating this GoFundMe page to seek funds for temporary 6-month housing for my friend - Martin. I have known Martin for over 10 years - first at a soup kitchen I volunteered at (pic above). Martin lived in my neighborhood in East Palo Alto in a converted garage. We kept in touch over texts, calls and occasional meet-ups over the last 3 years.

 

In mid-Oct 2021, after a long legal struggle, Martin was evicted from the garage. Martin has severe physical and mental health conditions - he has osteo-arthritis, spinal pain, muscle myositis, sleep and digestive issues that limits the food he can eat. He also suffers from anxiety and in the past, bouts of depression, that results in further physical health limitations. Martin is Asian American, grew up in California, and did his undergrad in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley. He was pursuing a masters at Stanford, when his life fell apart due to illness in the family. He has no family in the US. His mom lives abroad and is struggling herself. Martin is extremely polite and soft spoken. In all our interactions, he always asks how he can help me.

 

Over the last few weeks, working with a couple of local churches, we got him into a low cost weekly motel. That runs out on Dec 20. I would like to use this GoFundMe page to get funds for him to find some sort of 6 month housing arrangement. I am a big believer in housing first (See local NGO, Abode Services Housing First or for a funnier take - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver). My hope is to provide Martin with enough stability to be able to attempt to untangle the complex web of issues he faces. I am hoping to walk alongside him and ask for you to join me. As I do this, I am accountable to 2 close friends of mine and Martin is seeking housing help through the system as well.

 

If you are local and know of any housing situations, please let me know. If you have other thoughts on how we can support Martin, let me know as well! Thank you for reading and thank you for your support!!