So, for those of you not familiar with the current situation, let me begin.

I am Jason, and in the picture above is me with my partner, Matthew.

We both suffer from a plethora of physical & mental health conditions that prevent us from being able to seek out and retain typical reliable employment. We also unfortunately lost our apartment back in February of this year due to having a relentless landlord who - even though they were getting paid, along with late fees, etc, if we were late - because they wanted us out so they could raise the rent & get more money from someone else. Even before this happened, we had been working with many different outreach programs, such as Housing Authority & disability outreach programs, to look into Section 8 Housing and/or Housing Vouchers. We also have applied for SSDI (Social Security Disability Income) since we cannot reliably obtain/retain employment and due to any online odd jobs we get being very few & in-between.

It got to the point where we were told by one of these programs that we just needed to hold out for a couple months at most & would have either Section 8 Housing or a Housing Voucher. So, with that info, and not wanting to leave state due to my daughter being here, and knowing that leaving state would forfeit our places on the waiting list with these programs, we decided to stay out of an affordable extended stay motel for the time being. At that point in time, my SSDI application was said to take 5 months to process & verify, etc, as well.

Well, here we are, 7 months later. I just NOW got confirmation through that one program that our Housing Voucher application was approved & in receipt. However, upon speaking with them, they told us it would take another 1-3 years before we possibly receive that housing voucher, which is very much off any time frame initially promised to us. It's very infuriating. To add insult to injury, checking in with my SSDI application, while it is making progress in being verified & processed, the processing time has jumped up to 7 months!

Suffice to say, things feel very hopeless right now. We put our trust in these programs to come through for us based on the initial timeline that they promised us, they failed to deliver, even if that outcome was unintentional. I'm still mad though, especially because this already felt like our last resort in the first place. My partner & I feel cheated, beat down, abused, and forgotten.

What makes it worse is that considering what little income we get, on top of the help of several very generous individuals throughout this year, we have only had enough money to continue to renew for another week here at the motel, with no ability to really save up any funds in any way, shape, or form. It keeps us locked into a vicious band-aid solution & cycle that is just not going to be able to held on to in the long term. It's already becoming harder & harder to come across odd jobs online and those who have been feeling the pinch from circumstances in their own life and the continuous assistance towards helping us maintain what was supposed to be a short term solution.

Enough is enough of this, damnit!

We need to break this cycle already.

If we had the option to move in with someone offering us a roof over our head, we would have taken it long ago. But unfortunately everyone we know is already sharing space with others in a roommate/family situation, or they live far out of state which again would take me away from my daughter & also forfeit our places on the waiting list with all these outreach programs.

We do have a friend of ours from out of state who wishes to move here to this area & get an apartment/housing with us. But to make that happen, we would need to be able to help throw in some financial weight to help out which we are not in a position to do at the moment. So, this brings us to where we are now.

Another friend of mine gave us some funds so that we are paid up through September 14th of this year at the motel, and during that time, I am use this campaign to raise the funds that we will need to be able to lock down a place to call our own with this friend of ours. A place that would be a far more long term & permanent solution to our housing situation as it currently stands. A place that would give us our own space, stability, and security. A place that would allow us to give living space to my daughter so that we can continue to partake in raising her and having her in our lives.

So, for full transparency, the goal of this campaign is to raise funds for application fees, security deposit, our half of rent for several months (while we work on saving up funds from odd jobs and/or get SSDI), and funds to help maintain a roof over our heads here for the time being at the motel while we hunt for the best fit of a place for us to call home, both financially & living arrangement wise.

But we can't do this without your help.

I know that we have set a lofty goal, and that there have been so many of you who have helped us through this grueling time of need quite a bit & there is no way I will ever forget to honor that. You have been such a beacon of light in a very dark time. Due to this, I know I am asking a lot by putting this out there. But at this point, there is just no other option, and it is sink or swim. We wish to swim to what will hopefully be a semi-permanent safety, at the very least, and because of that, we're signaling for help to make that happen.

Even if all you can give is just $1, that is fine, because every little bit helps & does make a difference, contrary to popular belief. If you can also please spread the word around & share this campaign in order to bring attention to it, we would be eternally grateful.

We do not mean to be a burden, and apologize for being so. But please, don't give up on us yet. Please, help us make this a reality. Help us survive this & get into a long term housing situation that will provide us with the stability & security that we need.

Thank you in advance to all of those who help us in this endeavor, no matter what size.