Don't Let Amy Remain Homeless

Amy, who’s a proud momma to her 9 year old daughter, Ronin and 3 frisky kitty cats has always been a positive, kind and caring person, is going through what most of us would consider our worst nightmare.

Roughly a year ago, very suddenly and unexpectedly, Amy lost her fiancé, Mike. He died in her arms. They had been planning an August 2020 wedding and should have had many happy years together. That’s heartbreaking in itself... but....

Four months later, Amy lost her mom (Dolly) to complications from lung cancer. Like most girls, Dolly was Amy’s best friend and rock. Amy had previously lost her dad to cancer when we were teenagers, so the loss of her mom was incredibly detrimental to her well being.

While trying to process the grief of losing her partner and her mother, Amy found out she was losing her home as well. The house was owned by Mike. Since Mike and Amy weren’t married, and there was no will, the home went to Mike’s next of kin. The next of kin decided they’d rather sell the home than rent it out to Amy. So as of March 8th of this year, Amy was forced to move out. Thinking she had an apartment lined up, Amy moved into a motel for what she thought would be a few nights. Fast forward almost 11 weeks later to now....

The apartment fell through and finding another while on a fixed income - Amy receives only SS Disability, which is less than $1200/month - has become an unending nightmare. Even with a promise of 70% of the rent being guaranteed by the OEO, she cannot find a place.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell anyone what the housing market is like right now. Apartments that are willing to rent to Amy have loooong waiting lists. Amy does have 2 co-signers, which is great! But whenever she applies, she has to pay the application fees 3x. So if the app fee is $50, she has to pay $150.

Her monthly costs drastically exceed her income. She has literally pawned her belongings to supplement what we’ve been able to raise for her through this fundraiser and direct donations.

Every week is an incredible mental and emotional struggle and since you can only stay in a motel for 3 weeks at a time, a physical struggle as she has to hire a Lyft or Uber to move her, her cats and her belongings to another motel. Imagine packing up and moving every 3 weeks.
Amy desperately wants to re-enter the workforce, and get her license renewed, but needs a permanent address to do either.

This situation would be unbearable during normal times. But during a pandemic, it is even worse. Thank you for considering this cause and we hope you stay healthy and well!