- e
- H
My family is getting evicted.
My father is an immigrant from Cuba with very little education, and my mother has a severe case of bipolar disorder. When I was born, my mom was healthy, and able to navigate both herself and my father through general life challenges, with an awareness of how the workforce operates and with the support of her family. Now, my mother's mental health is at one of its lowest points, leaving her catatonic and leaving my dad lost in a world he does not understand. His confusion left him jobless for many months, and in this time the rent and bills piled up. Although he is now employed, we are left with arrears that we are unable to pay ourselves, and will almost certainly be evicted in the next few weeks.
MOM
My mom's turbulent mental health left both my father and I feeling helpless for a large portion of my life. In the periods when her mental health was poor, we lived under the poverty line for years--we were food insecure and homeless for a large portion of my life. When I was seven, I was placed in foster care for two years. In the 5th grade, right before I turned ten years old, my mother was medicated and healthy, and I got to move back in with my family. For about a year, my family life was normal. I finished elementary school and my parents attended my graduation--this is still the only graduation my mother fully remembers. In the Fall of 6th grade, I coaxed my screaming mother out of our apartment and into an ambulance, sending her to a psychiatric hospital to get treatment. In my sophomore year of high school, I had to do it again. Since the last hospitalization, there have been very few moments in which I have been able to see my mom as her best self--intelligent, funny, headstrong, and relentlessly hardworking. She is heavily sedated by the wrong dosage of medication (which her psychiatrist can't seem to get right) and spends most of her time in bed, depressed and catatonic. I am rarely able to see her awake for more than an hour a day, and even then, it’s hard to get her to speak to me.
DAD
My father came from Cuba when he was 16, and worked low-paying jobs for most of his life. Some years after meeting my mother, he began making a living for our family by selling Asian art that my mom's family had collected over the years. Under my mother's guidance, he was making close to 90k a year--an amount that he never dreamt of making as an immigrant without a high school diploma. But, around my junior year of high school (a year after my mom's worst hospitalization) the pieces of valuable art started to run out. In an attempt to move the remaining art to a cheap storage space, while still paying the rent for the store, my dad ended up spending all of our savings. In September, I left for college with the impression that money was a little tight, and maybe we wouldn't be able to buy each other Christmas presents this year, but in the end we'd come out fine.
Unfortunately, the situation was a lot more extreme than I had imagined--my dad had not been in the workforce for 10 years and had no idea how to get a job in 2018, especially as a uneducated man with a back injury. Like most of the events that have occurred within the last year and a half, I did not become aware of this challenge until it was too late. My dad could not find a job for eight months--leaving my family without any source of income since October.
ME
For all of my life, I have taken care of my family. I am an only child, and during the many challenges my mother and father experienced in their own relationship, I was the one they confided in. As I got older, I became their advisor, but I was never quite old enough to have the resources to solve their problems. Since the seventh grade, when a teacher told me in passing that going to a "good college" is the way to get a "good job", I always dreamt that my academics would be my escape from poverty--a constant cycle of loving my parents, but rarely having enough money between the three of us to keep us happy.
In middle school, I went to visit my mom in the mental hospital twice a week, but I also studied for the SHSAT with a $20 prep book I bought from the Barnes & Nobles that was forty minutes away on the subway. I got into The Bronx High School of Science and surprised all my teachers at my Bronx middle school, as no one had ever gone to a specialized high school from there. In high school, I did research, after-school activities, took my APs, SATs, and ACTs, and applied to colleges, at the same time that I was buying groceries for my family, checking in on my mother during her most recent stay at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, and trying to help my dad through his depression. All of my life, I pushed aside the chaos brewing around me and focused on school--because it was my only shot of getting out of that life.
In the fall of my senior year, I got accepted to Brown University on a full scholarship. I thought that my future was secure--for the first time in my whole life, I felt safe.
WHEN I GOT BACK
My first semester in college was incredible--I made great friends, took courses on the subjects I loved, and felt a weight lifted off my shoulders as I was able to distance myself from the troubles of home for a while. But when I returned to New York over winter break, I found my house in a state of disaster, with two months of overdue rent and both my parents mental health in severe decline. I used the money I had saved from my summer job and scholarships to pay $4,000 in overdue rent and late fees.
I thought that I had fixed the problem, so I returned to college hoping my dad would be able to solve things for himself soon enough. But, it became clear that my dad had no idea how to find a job. For all of my second semester at school, I spent hours each week showing him how and where to look for certain jobs, telling him how to make himself presentable, and editing his resume and the many emails to employers. In the period of time when my dad could not find a job, the rent and the bills piled up, and the landlord finally decided to evict.
For months, I have been scrambling to find solutions to the eviction. I got in contact with various lawyers, first trying to put them in touch with my father so I could focus on my studies, but then realizing that my passive intervention wasn't working. My father was too confused by the complicated nature of housing law and Public Assistance to understand what the lawyers were telling him, paralyzing him into inaction and worsening his depression. I became the intermediary between my father and the lawyers, making many phone calls every week to understand what was going on, and then re-explain that information to my father. At the same time, I struggled to console him when the combination of Public Assistance applications and a failing job search left him feeling hopeless.
I did this through my finals, my extracurriculars, and my more general attempt at being a normal student in my freshman year. I just wanted to be eighteen. Still, I thought I could handle my family's burden on my own, but at this point, the problem has become too large for me to solve alone, even as an "adult". Now, I need to ask for help.
THE SITUATION RIGHT NOW
In February, my father and I worked with lawyers to extend the pay date for the overdue rent to May 18th. We assumed that he would be able to find a job in about a month or two, we would start paying the rent, and scrap together the arrears. However, as previously mentioned, the job search was not that simple, and he was only hired as a security officer on May 17th. He'll be earning $2,470 a month ($29,640 a year), not including the overtime he plans to work. This was great news--it meant we'd be able to pay our rent in the future. But, no amount of saving would ever leave us able pay for five months of overdue rent.
For five months, I have been discussing a "One-Shot Deal" with lawyers. It's a form of public assistance which will pay for arrears if you demonstrate the ability to pay the rent in the future. Our monthly rent is $1,950, which is not an incredibly high rent for NYC, but it does seem to be dangerously high in the world of Public Assistance. Yesterday, I was in the Human Resources Administration office from 9am-6pm with my father, only to find out that our rent will probably be too high to qualify for this One-Shot Deal.
I have of course explored the possibility of just moving, but in my parent's attempt to feed themselves during the months which my father did not have a job, both my parents maxed out their credit cards. I am worried that it is unlikely we'll find somewhere willing to let us move in with their current credit scores. I have considered renting under my name, but I don't have a credit card or credit score, and I don't think that application process is possible with all that is going on.
WHAT WE NEED HELP WITH
My mother, father, and I have very few living family members. My aunt and her family live in a NYC apartment without enough space to take us in, and my only other two extended family members live in California and Puerto Rico. We can't think of many places to go if we were to get evicted, and we don't have a car to move the few possessions we'd be able to keep.
Tomorrow, a Legal Aid lawyer will go to court to speak in front of a judge (my dad will be at work) and ask for more time to pay the arrears. If the judge doesn't grant us more time, then we only have 6 days to raise these funds. But even if we do have more time, without this One-Shot Deal, there's no way we will be able to pay the overdue rent with my father's $29,640 annual salary, and my minimum-wage job.
We need a total of $10,540 to cover the five months of overdue rent and the many late fees that have been added each month. It's a terrifying amount--likely more than my family has ever had in their bank accounts. I'm reaching out in the hopes that with contributions from many people, this amount might be achievable.
I have kept this under wraps for a while, as I tried to prevent my home situation from affecting my life as a normal college student. But, the weight of this issue has taken its toll on me over the course of almost a year. I spent the last few months of college fearful, as I considered the possibility that when I left school, I may not have a home to return to. It seems like that is the reality.
If there is any amount that you think you would be able to donate, please consider helping me and my family. If you know anyone that you think would be able to help, please share this with them as well. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story.
-Isabel
My father is an immigrant from Cuba with very little education, and my mother has a severe case of bipolar disorder. When I was born, my mom was healthy, and able to navigate both herself and my father through general life challenges, with an awareness of how the workforce operates and with the support of her family. Now, my mother's mental health is at one of its lowest points, leaving her catatonic and leaving my dad lost in a world he does not understand. His confusion left him jobless for many months, and in this time the rent and bills piled up. Although he is now employed, we are left with arrears that we are unable to pay ourselves, and will almost certainly be evicted in the next few weeks.
MOM
My mom's turbulent mental health left both my father and I feeling helpless for a large portion of my life. In the periods when her mental health was poor, we lived under the poverty line for years--we were food insecure and homeless for a large portion of my life. When I was seven, I was placed in foster care for two years. In the 5th grade, right before I turned ten years old, my mother was medicated and healthy, and I got to move back in with my family. For about a year, my family life was normal. I finished elementary school and my parents attended my graduation--this is still the only graduation my mother fully remembers. In the Fall of 6th grade, I coaxed my screaming mother out of our apartment and into an ambulance, sending her to a psychiatric hospital to get treatment. In my sophomore year of high school, I had to do it again. Since the last hospitalization, there have been very few moments in which I have been able to see my mom as her best self--intelligent, funny, headstrong, and relentlessly hardworking. She is heavily sedated by the wrong dosage of medication (which her psychiatrist can't seem to get right) and spends most of her time in bed, depressed and catatonic. I am rarely able to see her awake for more than an hour a day, and even then, it’s hard to get her to speak to me.
DAD
My father came from Cuba when he was 16, and worked low-paying jobs for most of his life. Some years after meeting my mother, he began making a living for our family by selling Asian art that my mom's family had collected over the years. Under my mother's guidance, he was making close to 90k a year--an amount that he never dreamt of making as an immigrant without a high school diploma. But, around my junior year of high school (a year after my mom's worst hospitalization) the pieces of valuable art started to run out. In an attempt to move the remaining art to a cheap storage space, while still paying the rent for the store, my dad ended up spending all of our savings. In September, I left for college with the impression that money was a little tight, and maybe we wouldn't be able to buy each other Christmas presents this year, but in the end we'd come out fine.
Unfortunately, the situation was a lot more extreme than I had imagined--my dad had not been in the workforce for 10 years and had no idea how to get a job in 2018, especially as a uneducated man with a back injury. Like most of the events that have occurred within the last year and a half, I did not become aware of this challenge until it was too late. My dad could not find a job for eight months--leaving my family without any source of income since October.
ME
For all of my life, I have taken care of my family. I am an only child, and during the many challenges my mother and father experienced in their own relationship, I was the one they confided in. As I got older, I became their advisor, but I was never quite old enough to have the resources to solve their problems. Since the seventh grade, when a teacher told me in passing that going to a "good college" is the way to get a "good job", I always dreamt that my academics would be my escape from poverty--a constant cycle of loving my parents, but rarely having enough money between the three of us to keep us happy.
In middle school, I went to visit my mom in the mental hospital twice a week, but I also studied for the SHSAT with a $20 prep book I bought from the Barnes & Nobles that was forty minutes away on the subway. I got into The Bronx High School of Science and surprised all my teachers at my Bronx middle school, as no one had ever gone to a specialized high school from there. In high school, I did research, after-school activities, took my APs, SATs, and ACTs, and applied to colleges, at the same time that I was buying groceries for my family, checking in on my mother during her most recent stay at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, and trying to help my dad through his depression. All of my life, I pushed aside the chaos brewing around me and focused on school--because it was my only shot of getting out of that life.
In the fall of my senior year, I got accepted to Brown University on a full scholarship. I thought that my future was secure--for the first time in my whole life, I felt safe.
WHEN I GOT BACK
My first semester in college was incredible--I made great friends, took courses on the subjects I loved, and felt a weight lifted off my shoulders as I was able to distance myself from the troubles of home for a while. But when I returned to New York over winter break, I found my house in a state of disaster, with two months of overdue rent and both my parents mental health in severe decline. I used the money I had saved from my summer job and scholarships to pay $4,000 in overdue rent and late fees.
I thought that I had fixed the problem, so I returned to college hoping my dad would be able to solve things for himself soon enough. But, it became clear that my dad had no idea how to find a job. For all of my second semester at school, I spent hours each week showing him how and where to look for certain jobs, telling him how to make himself presentable, and editing his resume and the many emails to employers. In the period of time when my dad could not find a job, the rent and the bills piled up, and the landlord finally decided to evict.
For months, I have been scrambling to find solutions to the eviction. I got in contact with various lawyers, first trying to put them in touch with my father so I could focus on my studies, but then realizing that my passive intervention wasn't working. My father was too confused by the complicated nature of housing law and Public Assistance to understand what the lawyers were telling him, paralyzing him into inaction and worsening his depression. I became the intermediary between my father and the lawyers, making many phone calls every week to understand what was going on, and then re-explain that information to my father. At the same time, I struggled to console him when the combination of Public Assistance applications and a failing job search left him feeling hopeless.
I did this through my finals, my extracurriculars, and my more general attempt at being a normal student in my freshman year. I just wanted to be eighteen. Still, I thought I could handle my family's burden on my own, but at this point, the problem has become too large for me to solve alone, even as an "adult". Now, I need to ask for help.
THE SITUATION RIGHT NOW
In February, my father and I worked with lawyers to extend the pay date for the overdue rent to May 18th. We assumed that he would be able to find a job in about a month or two, we would start paying the rent, and scrap together the arrears. However, as previously mentioned, the job search was not that simple, and he was only hired as a security officer on May 17th. He'll be earning $2,470 a month ($29,640 a year), not including the overtime he plans to work. This was great news--it meant we'd be able to pay our rent in the future. But, no amount of saving would ever leave us able pay for five months of overdue rent.
For five months, I have been discussing a "One-Shot Deal" with lawyers. It's a form of public assistance which will pay for arrears if you demonstrate the ability to pay the rent in the future. Our monthly rent is $1,950, which is not an incredibly high rent for NYC, but it does seem to be dangerously high in the world of Public Assistance. Yesterday, I was in the Human Resources Administration office from 9am-6pm with my father, only to find out that our rent will probably be too high to qualify for this One-Shot Deal.
I have of course explored the possibility of just moving, but in my parent's attempt to feed themselves during the months which my father did not have a job, both my parents maxed out their credit cards. I am worried that it is unlikely we'll find somewhere willing to let us move in with their current credit scores. I have considered renting under my name, but I don't have a credit card or credit score, and I don't think that application process is possible with all that is going on.
WHAT WE NEED HELP WITH
My mother, father, and I have very few living family members. My aunt and her family live in a NYC apartment without enough space to take us in, and my only other two extended family members live in California and Puerto Rico. We can't think of many places to go if we were to get evicted, and we don't have a car to move the few possessions we'd be able to keep.
Tomorrow, a Legal Aid lawyer will go to court to speak in front of a judge (my dad will be at work) and ask for more time to pay the arrears. If the judge doesn't grant us more time, then we only have 6 days to raise these funds. But even if we do have more time, without this One-Shot Deal, there's no way we will be able to pay the overdue rent with my father's $29,640 annual salary, and my minimum-wage job.
We need a total of $10,540 to cover the five months of overdue rent and the many late fees that have been added each month. It's a terrifying amount--likely more than my family has ever had in their bank accounts. I'm reaching out in the hopes that with contributions from many people, this amount might be achievable.
I have kept this under wraps for a while, as I tried to prevent my home situation from affecting my life as a normal college student. But, the weight of this issue has taken its toll on me over the course of almost a year. I spent the last few months of college fearful, as I considered the possibility that when I left school, I may not have a home to return to. It seems like that is the reality.
If there is any amount that you think you would be able to donate, please consider helping me and my family. If you know anyone that you think would be able to help, please share this with them as well. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story.
-Isabel