Urgent Help Needed to Prevent Eviction

HELP ME AVOID HOMELESSNESS

I recently moved to the Washington D.C. area because I went to high school here and liked it, and I thought there would be a better chance of finding a good paying job here than the area where I was living. I spent most of the money from the sale of my house on the move and have no other savings.

However, after a year of sending out resumes I have only gotten one request for an interview, and I didn't get the job. I suspect that my age has something to do with it, but of course no one will tell you that. To pay the bills I took a job as a courier, using my own car to deliver packages all over the area. The money can be good, but there are a lot of expenses, and it's very seasonal. In the wintertime it's great. In the summer it's terrible. My income this June was half what it was just a few months before.

Still, everything was working out fine until about two months ago, when I started getting sick. Basically, I couldn't stay out of the bathroom. The doctors did every test in the book and still can't tell me what's wrong. But the biggest problem is, it cost me several days off at work. And because my income is commission based, when I'm not working I'm not making any money.

Next, my car started breaking down. I had to buy a new tire ($250), then I got a check engine light, then a Diesel Particulate Filter light, then a glow plug light. To fix these issues would have cost several thousand dollars, which I did not have. Fortunately, I was able to get the filter cleaned for around $750 and kept driving. Since then it has been one thing after the other, from a leak in the heater core to a slipping transmission. So far I have spent over $2000 patching up these problems, but every day I take off from work to fix the car is another day of lost income.

Here's where things took a turn for the worst. I was unable to pay rent for the month of July and the apartment complex where I live started eviction proceedings. I have a court date set for the end of August, but two different attorneys have told me I can't win. And the management won't take partial payments, so now I'm late with August's rent as well. It's like a snowball rolling downhill. The amount I owe keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Right now I need approximately $6500 for the past due rent, late fees, and court costs. My goal is to stay where I am, or find a cheaper place and move. If I can't come up with the money I will quite literally become homeless. I am not exaggerating. I have nowhere else to go. At 66 I don't think I can handle that.

Most of my family is deceased or unable to help. Although many of my friends have done what they could, loaning me anywhere from $100 to $500, it just isn't enough. I applied for financial assistance from the Department of Social Services and several local charities and other organizations, but the wheels of government move very slowly and most of them have rules that make it impossible for a person in my position to qualify (it isn't COVID related, I don't have a child, I'm not impaired or handicapped, I have a job, etc.).

It's hard for me to believe that after a lifetime of hard work I find myself in this situation. And even more difficult to ask for help. But I wouldn't survive living in the woods or on the street. I don't see how anyone does. So I'm asking for whatever help people can give me to help keep a roof over my head.