Ensure Ahn's Safe Housing

Hello - my name is Ahn. Most of you know me through my commitment to community, to our collective healing, rest, and liberation. But you might not know that across my whole life, I have struggled deeply with finding a long-term place to heal, rest, and feel my own freedom.

On top of the constant terror and daily challenges of being Black and queer in the US, I have faced a lifetime of battling poverty.

I grew up thinking that this amount of difficulty was normal; a lot of my childhood was spent figuring out how to get by, finding a next solution to the next difficulty. "Home" was always moving from place to place, going wherever we could afford; home was whichever place would approve our government-mandated income. My teen years were spent moving from trailer to apartment to staying with cousins. Sometimes, we were uprooted as frequently as every few months; we rarely stayed anywhere for more than a year.

In university, I often had to choose which meals I would eat and which I would skip. When holidays approached, I was often panicked to find somewhere I could go over breaks. And after graduating, "home" has been mostly determined by who is kind enough to share their space with me (people to whom I am immensely grateful). I do not have parents who can secure a home for me: no second property, no savings I can tap into, no cosigning. I am currently renting in an overpriced apartment I could barely get approved for, unable to afford to save, looking at my lease ending in March and asking: isn't more possible than this? Isn't there more than constantly not knowing, moving houses every year or two? Never really knowing what a safe and secured "home" feels like?

What kind of person can I become, if I don't have to always be a problem-solver - if my inner child can find rest from anxiety about basic needs and safety?

I made this GoFundMe with the hopes that community will help me purchase a house, something that I can call my own and find lasting stability in - what I hope will be my forever home. A place which can be a haven for me and for other displaced or struggling community.

Now, I ask all of those around me: if I have helped you or if you have the comfort to share part of your resources, please help me find this safe place I have been looking for across my whole life.

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Another note: the home I am seeking is in the range of $250k, so if you feel called to share much more of your resources, please do reach out, including if you can extend a personal loan to me. I can only reach this dream with the support of community. Please share what you can and *importantly*, ask others what they can do; we can only see what's possible if we are brave enough to ask.