Disabled Artist Fight Eviction

Hi, I'm Darby, a disabled, queer artist living in Peterborough, UK. This first part is for people who know me, so skip ahead if you want. Firstly, I just have to say, I don't feel like I'm in any position to ask for, let alone expect any help. Truth is, I've let people down more times than I can count, and I've failed at almost every attempt to change my situation for the better, despite having a lot of support online. I've messed up, a lot, and instead of facing that, I've shut down and shut off and hidden from the rightful and warranted criticisms aimed at me by the people I've let down. But, there are still some people who, despite my own misgivings, still want to support me, and I know I'd also just be letting them down further if I didn't at least try. To those who don't feel that they can offer me support again, I get it, and I don't blame you. Anyway, I just felt I needed to say that. On to the issue at hand.

So, my landlord put my rent up again at the end of December, just before the building management offices closed for Christmas, and following a couple of hospital stints at the end of last year as well as in January, I've fallen behind on paying the full ammount. Last week I was handed a section 8 eviction notice for owed rent, with a court date of the 20th of March given. At this court date, a Judge will rule on the notice and give me a date at which I must surrender the property. To my knowledge, there is no minimum time frame I will have to be given before I'm asked to vacate my home. If I stay, things will then progress to the point of a court order being given to physically remove me from the property. Due to the nature of the eviction, I have been advised that the local Council could, if they so chose, rule that I have made myself intentionally homeless by failing to pay the full, increased rent ammount. If that were to happen, they would have no duty of care to house me and I would be left to sleep rough on the street.

My landlords are asking for a payment of £2,350 minimum, but from advice I've recieved from charities and people with legal knowledge, I should be able to stop the court proceedings and buy myself some more time, as well as put myself in a more favourable position to be placed in emergency accomodation by the local authority, if I can pay the back the £1,475 listed on the actual eviction notice.

For those who don't know, I have Multiple Sclerosis, Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder, Diverticulitis, and last year I was treated for a basal cell carcinoma. My health is pretty poor, and I'm still being investigated for further health issues that are as yet undiagnosed and untreated. Basically, I've been sick for a long time and I'm getting sicker, and as such my ability to work has fallen to almost nothing. I used to be able to draw and make art every day. Now, I'm lucky if I have the energy and capacity to draw a few times a month, and the overall quality of what I'm able to produce is suffering. Yeah, I can pull off a one-off decent piece and these are the ones that make it to social media, but most of the time I'm struggling to even sketch. Art was my main source of income. It's dried up. I've dried up. I'm exhausted, physically and mentally, every single day and honestly, I hate the person I've become through all this.

For the past month, I've been desperately trying to sell as many of my possessions, including tech, furniture, clothing, as well as personal effects and family heirlooms. I've not been very successful in this, despite my best efforts. Since January, I've barely been able to afford my medication, and have gone without for several weeks. I eat one meal a day, most days, but despite this, I'm still struggling so badly financially that I can't raise the money to pay this debt myself. This is why I'm here. I've managed to get together £475 with the help of some very generous folks, but if I can't come up with the remaining £1,000, there's a decent chance I'm gonna be sleeping rough, and with my health problems, I'm honestly terrified. Like I said, I don't have any right to ask for anymore help. And honestly, if I make it through this and get into emergency or social housing, I'll be filing for bankruptcy as soon as possible as this is realistically my only way to cope with my financial situation going forward. But I don't know what else to do other than to just put this up and see what happens. I'm sorry to all the people I've let down. I could say I've tried my best, but honestly, I'm not sure that's true anymore. I'm not sure I have a best to try. I'm tired and worn down and I don't really know what I've got left to give.

I've always just wanted to try and make people happy but I seem to do the opposite, more often than not. I'm sorry. Much love, always.