homeless family needs help!

My family will be homeless in one week. I have never been as scared as I am right now. I need help and I don't know what else to do. My name is Shawn, I am 51 years old. I have a fiancée, Amber and 2 school-age children, as well as two dogs and two cats. I had a plan to avoid this and it didn't work out so here I am—humiliated, terrified, and desperate. I'm not looking for frivolous spending money; I'm looking for help obtaining someplace my kids are safe and to restore the feeling of safety and home for all of us. It is my job to provide a safe and happy home for my family. I am currently failing at that task, and I'm asking my community for help.

I have been thru the community resources available to me and while I may be able to utilize some of them, I live in a small community where most homeless resources are sparse and not geared towards families but single people or mothers and children. My mission is to keep the family together- under one roof- pets and all. I dont want to split up into separate shelters. There is another issue of custody of Amber's youngest. If I cant keep the housing situation stable, that might have horrible consequences and that is all I'm willing to say about that.

2020/2021 was a horrible time period for me. Literally changed everything. I lost a job that I had for 14 years as a leader in manufacturing, went to rehab and quit drinking (still sober FYI), my dad died suddenly, and I got divorced (in that order). Regarding my divorce, I like to think I did the "right thing," meaning I took all the debt and helped as much as I could financially to make the transfer as painless as possible for her. I obviously got behind on all my bills as did many humans during the covid lockdown. The one bill that was easiest to put at the bottom of the list was the mortgage, as I took advantage of the covid mortgage forgiveness program. This is where the housing dilemma seed was planted. It took me a bit of time to rebound from all that, but I did, and I felt I was on a good track to recover. I had to give up my car and get a used one, make some hard life choices and make a lot of sacrifices but I was tracking in the right direction. Unfortunately, letting the house go was part of this decision process.

Fast forward to 2024- I had a good job where I felt I was really making a difference, not only to myself and the company but to the community as well. I ran a banquet center where we made people happy- Weddings, Reunions, even funerals I was blessed with a job where my only real goal was to make people happy and comfortable and it was awesome! Because of my belief in the vision of the rebirth of this business, I had Amber and two of my sons working there as well. Then I got a phone call saying that effective immediately they were closing the doors. No final check for any of us; he turned it into a parking lot. Additionally, because of some kind of "payroll reporting error," the unemployment office didn't have records that we worked there, so none of us qualified for unemployment. When we went to file taxes, we got similar messages from the IRS.

I have been working as a delivery driver because that leaves me the flexibility to interview as needed, and that pays the minimum bills and provides as much comfort to these kids as I can afford, but it's just not enough capital for what I need to do. I need first and last month's rent plus a security deposit, and I just don't have it. I am confident that if I had the money for the move I could Keep it going and recover from this situation.

I've been diligently applying for all kinds of jobs for months, but it's difficult. I am older, and finding jobs isn't as easy as it was when I was in my 20s. Which is interesting because I would argue that I'm hungrier and more focused than I've ever been, but I keep hearing that I'm overqualified or the hiring managers are afraid I'll quit as soon as I find something better. One position that I applied for, I had two phone interviews and four in-person interviews over the course of 2 months, and they ghosted me. That's 2 months I didn't look for anything else because I thought I had found something.

I can't wait to get back to work, but I'll be honest, my self-confidence has taken a hit, and I feel that I'm interviewing desperate. Every call and interview has the possibility of changing the world, but I overthink and put all my eggs into that basket and by the time I'm interviewing, I'm a nervous wreck! I know that desperation comes off in my interviews, and desperation isn't a good look, especially since I am a really good leader. In all honesty, that is one of the things that has kept me from asking for help until now- I'm embarrassed and scared of what this might do to my already failing job search but sometimes you just have to swallow your dignity and ask for help.

In summary—did I see this housing crisis coming? Yes. Should I have made different decisions in hindsight? Yes. But foolishly, I counted on these income streams that just didn't work out. Hypothetically, if we had gotten unemployment and our tax refunds, we should have had plenty to restart with minimal discomfort to the kids, but like I said, that didn't work out. That's not to say it will not—both UIA and IRS have our case listed as "under investigation," but I can't count on that.

I have run out of time. I have run out of ideas. I cant sleep, I cant eat, I'm scared, I have no family to turn to, so I'm asking for your help. anything helps.

Are you hiring? I'll work, message me.

Can you donate? Thank you. If you can't? Thanks for reading, and I would appreciate it if you would consider sharing.

Can you spread this message so I can reach more people? I appreciate it.

You have an old RV or camper I can fix and call home base for the summer? I need it.

Do you know of a rental with flexible terms? Message me.

Do you have a cheap local storage lot? I need one.

Thank you so much for reading this. it means a lot. I hope you have a wonderful day!

P.S. I understand with the current state of humanity there are a lot of bad people trying to get over on people. I completely understand. If you need proof or documentation of my situation, I can provide you with whatever you need. Eviction notice, shutoff notices, bank statements, whatever you need. Just PM me.