Help me get back on track after mistakenly taking in the wrong family to help!

My name is Colleen, and I desperately need help. I suffer from Ehlers-Danlos, a debilitating ailment that has me housebound and in need of support and assistance to maintain even the most basic level of independence.

My husband passed away over 5 years ago. Since his passing, physical, mental, and financial demands became greater, and, in an attempt to improve my situation, I took in a homeless family as tenants. The pastor at the local food bank recommended this family. As the recommendation came from an extremely reliable source, I agreed to accept them as tenants.

Sadly, this arrangement proved to be a disaster, and I ended up being in a more dire financial position than I was at the start. In addition, my physical and mental state has deteriorated as a result of the experience. Although I was able to get them removed via the courts, I was not able to recover much in the way of rent arrears. The loss of rental income, the increase in utility bills they incurred, and the significant damage to the property — some of which is urgent — they caused has put me in a position where I need to raise a large sum of money in a short amount of time.

With that financial assistance, I will make emergency repairs; pay off debt accrued as a result of my tenants’ destructive behavior; keep from losing my house; and regain my way of life.

The immediate costs that I just cannot find a way of covering are:

$1k gutter repair and extension

$3.5k French drain backyard

Needed to resolve the foundation leak and backyard ponding with heavy rain and rising water table

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$1k plumbing damages to the kitchen, resulting in the sink backing up into the washing machine

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$1.6k past due property taxes

$1.5k current property taxes

Out of necessity, I paid utilities instead of taxes. The township recently changed rules, though, with no payment plans and only 60 days current policy to pay before putting a lien on the property (happening end of July) instead of the previously allowed year. The change in policy seems to have been made without advance warning and put into effect retroactively! I only learned about it with the current bill.

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$1.1k to repair the alterations the family made to the circuit box that is no longer up to code, with one circuit that keeps popping, leaving my room without electricity and requiring reset every time more than one item in the kitchen is used.

I hope that there is someone out there who can help me, as I have no one or nowhere else to turn. My family has done all they can (and maybe a bit more besides), but they have now reached their financial limits.

Please help, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read this request.