My name is Dylan Barnett, I’m 28 years old, and I live in Colorado. I’m reaching out because I’m in desperate need of help before I lose my home. I had a roommate who was a close friend of mine for three years, and everything was going well initially. However, after a series of difficult life events, she began to change in ways I never expected. Unfortunately, things escalated to the point where she was stealing my groceries, tampering with my food, and intentionally harassing me. It’s been an incredibly difficult and stressful situation, and I’m at a breaking point. I work at a middle school in the special education department, so I'm typically out of the house from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and sometimes until 4:30 p.m. on certain days. In addition, I have a second job, which means there are days when I’m not home until 9 p.m. or even 10 p.m. She took advantage of my absence to invade my space. She would go into my room, tamper with my belongings, and even throw away perfectly good food. On top of that, she’d have her friends over and offer them my things without my permission. I don't make a lot of money so this really impacted me .There were times when I went without food for days because she took everything I had. This was just the beginning of what eventually led me to where I am now.

After we lost one of our roommates, we were in desperate need of a replacement. My roommate found someone and was supposed to bring her by so we could meet her first. Instead, she moved her in without telling me, didn't charge her a security deposit, and didn’t add her to the lease. This immediately put me in a difficult situation and created more tension between me and my roommate.

The new roommate was a recovering alcoholic, and just a day after moving in, the roommate who knew about her recovery gave her bottles, saying she was an adult and should be allowed to make her own choices—even though it was clear she needed support. As expected, she repeatedly fell off the wagon after that.

A month went by, and I fought to get her added to the lease, which only made my roommate angrier. Eventually, she stopped paying rent altogether. Since she was the one who brought the new girl into the apartment, the new roommate also decided not to pay rent. Now, I’m stuck in a three-bedroom apartment with back rent piling up.

I’ve been working with the apartment complex to move into a one-bedroom unit, but it’s not that simple. To do so, I’d have to break my lease, go through an entirely new application process, pay fees, and cover the cost of breaking my current lease. On top of that, I have to pay the moving expenses. I have until the end of April to find the money or I will lose my home. Even if I don’t reach my full goal, anything helps. I hate having to ask for help, but if I lose my home, I’ll lose my car, my job, and everything else will spiral from there.

I truly appreciate any support, and if you’ve made it this far, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my story. It means a lot to me.