In my life, I've never had to ask others, other than my parents, for financial help. But, a friend and her special needs daughter are in crisis, having lost their rental home of the past year April 4 and having no ability to get a new place without help. I was in a position to help financially, where no one else could. Her friends and I helped her move that day, and I cosigned her lease for what we all believed was going to be an adequate home for a year. Unfortunately, 2 days after she was moved in, she discovered an infestation of cockroaches. The small apartment turned out to have countless problems and unlivable conditions: the next day the exterminator discovered rat feces, several holes in the walls and baseboard likely caused by rats; also, all the window locks were broken, the stove pilot light went out twice (she smelled gas both times) ...the stove didn't work and would have to be replaced, and much, much more.
She wouldn't let her daughter live in such a place and was desperate not to live there herself. But the landlord would sue if we broke the lease; according to numerous sources, it's what he does. Her friends and I were all at a loss and horrified over what happened. After her third day there, I moved her into a hotel for 3 days, then a friend of hers took her in for 6. Through our efforts since and the efforts of supporters here, on April 14 I was able to sign a 13-month lease on a good apartment for them. She moved in April 16, the movers relocated their possessions there April 20, and her daughter joined her there April 21. Meanwhile, the city inspector we called in found 13 health and safety violations on the old apartment April 13, which would cost the landlord $32,500 if she had stayed. Likely to avoid this, the landlord let us out of the lease in writing a few days later. The tradeoff was loss of the first month's rent and the security deposit, about $2,000.
Now that we have them relocated, I want to help them stay there. We can break this lease at any point without penalty with 60 days’ notice, but we’re hopeful it won’t come to that. Her assets are limited, and my ability to help them on my own is as well. While trying to live a purposeful life, I am approaching my own limits after 8 years of medical and especially dialysis expenses. To meet the $5,000 Blue Cross catastrophic deductible part of my medical costs, after their allowances, takes about $8,000 annually.
I have to ask others/all of you for help for both her and myself. Primarily, I need donations to protect both her and myself from the loss of money neither of us can afford under our circumstances. I can help them some, but I can’t do enough to ensure that can stay in the new apartment for a year without the help of others. I am attaching a photo of her and her daughter from a magazine cover from a recent profile of them. I can email the full article (with names and location edited for the family's privacy) to anyone who wants to read it, but I have posted excerpts in an update.
The updated goal as of April 19 is $19,000 to ensure she has a safe home to live in with her daughter for the next 13 months and can recover financially. $2,000 will cover her loss on the slum apartment (deposit and first month's rent, which the owner kept). $1,300 will cover her loss on the security deposit for her previous home (never returned) and the cost of turning on and off the gas in the slum apartment. The rest, $1,100/month plus a $200 deposit ($12,300), will cover the rent for the year for the new apartment.
So far, thanks to all of you, $1,800 has covered the pro-rated April and May rent, and $1,425 covered the costs of repacking and moving their furniture and possessions from that apartment to the new one, $260 covered the cost of security deposits, and $250 covered a futon (for the living room), which replaced the sofa she donated when she moved into the smaller slum apartment. The balance, about 5% of the total goes to GoFundMe for administrative costs. Any additional money above the goal, if achievable, I will use to pay down the 8 years of debt I have accumulated over years of medical problems. I am in the process of refinancing my home mortgage to deal with my own needs.
I desperately don’t want to do this, and neither does she. We are both very independent and strong-willed people, very much used to taking care of ourselves and those we love. But I see no other course under the pressing circumstances for both of us. Most important, my campaign needs to go viral; please share it with all of your friends on your pages and so on. As awkward as this is for me and for my friend, I pray all of you will understand. God bless all of you, and thank you all for anything you can do.