My mother and I are able to afford rent with the help of Housing. We typically live paycheck to paycheck and barely make enough to afford rent and bills monthly.

In the beginning of December, my mother had a very important surgery and is on leave until mid-January.

Despite my mom working through November, she was informed last week that she will not be receiving her paycheck for working in November until she returns to work. This paycheck was going to be used to pay rent next month, and without it, we have no way to afford rent next month.

We were hoping Housing would be able to help us; however, we were told that our case manager is on vacation and will not be back until January 5th. We were told, "you're on your own."

We have no other way to pay for rent. My funds are low, and I will not be receiving another paycheck until January. We can't pay rent; we can't even afford food and gifts for Christmas right now.

Every dollar helps. I'm so sorry to ask for so much during Christmas, but we are out of options.

Thank you for reading, happy holidays, and Merry Christmas.