Thank you for taking a moment to consider helping us. My name is Danielle Rivera and I am trying to raise money to keep my family (& our pets) together and housed. We have not been able to find a homeless shelter that is able to keep us together and since my disabilities require my husband's help with so many day-to-day tasks, they are unable to shelter me at all.

$5500 is a worst-case scenario. My husband and I are unable leave our floor due to the elevator being out, so we may have to hire professional movers since we struggle to get ourselves downstairs. We are trying to seek housing that's wheelchair accessible and pet friendly for a family of 3, preferable a 1/1 that's at least 400 sq. ft. and in the City of Miami, for no more than $1500 a month. We're hoping to get at least enough to cover 1st months rent & security deposit. In a worse case scenario, I hope to raise enough to cover storage for some of our irreplaceable belongings and pay someone to care for our pets so we at least don't lose everything.

My husband shattered his ankle and foot in late 2021/early 2022 (he tried to work through the pain). He was diagnosed with a condition called char-cot foot and had his first surgery in March 2022. Things seemed to be going well with his healing, but since he was the sole financial support for our family, he returned to work before he was medically cleared in the summer of 2022 due to the financial pressures. By November, he'd not only un-done all the surgical repairs, but had damaged his foot and ankle even worse! He hasn't been able to walk more than a few steps in over a year.

He filed for disability after the second shattering, but that application s still pending. It's not uncommon for the Social Security Administration to takes years to approve a disability application. In the meantime, he's had multiple surgeries (with at least 1 more to go) and we have struggled. I've been out of the workforce for over a decade and with my own health issues, I was not able to replace my husband's income. Unfortunately, all of my husband's training and work experience have been in industries that are unable (and in some cases unwilling) to accommodate his inability to walk nor does he have the skills needed to do most work-from-home jobs.

We were unaware of just how bad the structural and safety issues were in the condo building we currently live in until we say a notice from the City of Miami Unsafe Structures Panel taped to the building back in February 2023. Since then, the condition of the building has drastically gotten worse. Back in August, the contractor the condo hired to make the required repairs to bring the building up to code ended up making everything worse. They broke the elevator by over loading it with construction supplies (trapping my husband and I on our floor ever since), they broke all the exterior lighting multiple times, they even poked holes into our unit while improper laying rebar (that still have not been repaired and let the rain in), along with dozens of other small things. The City of Miami has revoked the current permit for the building and no further work can legally be done until the condo resolves the issues with the City. The deadline for the building complying with the Unsafe Structures Panel has passed, so the City can legally revoke the building's Certificate of Occupancy at anytime with notice.

Thank you for taking time to read this. Please help us if you can. Illness and disability can come for anyone. It doesn't matter how well you think you've planned for it, it doesn't take much get too sick or hurt for too long and end up in the same situation we're in right now.