Help Liz stay in the community!

If you’ve spent any time working in the community you know Liz. From sitting in on weekly city council meetings to heading the West Side Community Council, she has been active in the community for 15 years and a vocal advocate for everyone living on the Avenue.

Liz now needs our help. Her landlord, Scott Squires, has decided to sell the property that she has lived in for more than a decade. Scott, a local realtor out of Simi Valley and board member of Habitat for Humanity, is being firm on a move out date of August 15th, despite originally serving a notice that did not comply with existing noticing requirements (section 8 recipients should get 90 days notice), or notifying the housing authority as he is legally obligated to do.

Liz is a Section 8 recipient, and living not only with stage 4 lung cancer, but also a disability that affects her mobility. Unfortunately, in her search for a new home, she has been discriminated against. Without a vehicle, she has had to spend whole days traveling by bus to look at places that she was assured were wheelchair accessible, only to arrive and find out that they are in fact not. She has been denied housing because of her disability, and because she is a section 8 recipient.

She is running out of time. The pandemic is still very much here, and riding on the bus is a huge risk to her already compromised health. This fundraiser is aimed at getting her into a vehicle that suits her need for shelter while she continues to look for suitable housing. Here are the specifications from Liz for a van that will suit her needs, please let us know if you have any leads:

• Cargo van (no seats or windows) with a long bed, that means equal length to a 15 passenger van.
• Barn door-type doors on the passenger side (double open, not slide,) where I can use a folding ramp.
• Insulated somehow and with a rooftop AC.
• Ideally it is already built into a camper van with a toilet and small refrigerator, just that front area should be open for my wheelchair.
• It needs a roof rack to attach my solar panel that charges a battery pack to run my oxygen and respirator at night.
• The sleep area can be on top of low storage at the back door.

If you have any leads on a 2 bedroom house with fewer than 3 stairs leading into it (she will have the ramp made) please reach out. Must also be free from chemicals odors and the front door ADA compliant (34-36” wide). It’s critical that Liz and her service dogs get into housing as soon as possible.