Help The Coyles Avoid Homelessness

Hey there everyone!

 

Brendan here. It’s with a pretty heavy heart that I’m writing this. As many of you know, COVID severely impacted our family, and unfortunately we’re still dealing with the consequences. I’m going to write below the story of our struggles, and how we got to this point below.

 

The bottom line is that we’re on the verge of homelessness without help.

The short version…

We need  $4,500 to catch up on housing expenses, plus additional money to pay off other past due bills and pay rent forward in an effort to convince our landlord  to let us stay in the house. 

I have been waiting for disability payments from the state. We have also been applying for Paid Family Leave  because we found out Quinn has Autism. 

 

We are behind on every bill we have, including our rent. Our landlord initially was working with us, but we found out today that they do not intend to renew our lease (which ends this month). I am trying to negotiate with them to let us stay in the house as we get back on our feet here, and being able to catch up on the past due balance would be a huge help in that effort. We don’t have any money saved that would allow us to move us into another property, not to mention finding another property that we can afford is virtually impossible.

 

How did we get here? Let me explain...

 

In general, dealing with the fallout from the pandemic has been a non-stop struggle for the past two years. Some of you know, we were forced to leave Santa Clarita and move to Bakersfield in search of more affordable living. Additionally, I had to severely limit my music career and take a job as an electricians apprentice here in Kern County.

 

While that job was helping to provide for us financially, we could only maintain our expenses by me working 6 days a week, 70 hours+. During weeks when I didn’t have gigs, or overtime was not available, I was not bringing in enough income to pay our bills.

 

I saved a little money over the summer, but by fall, gigs had stopped and overtime ceased to exist. By October, we had no savings left, and things started to become a little perilous. Fortunately, I was able to book a lot of gigs in Nov/Dec and we pushed through, but unfortunately two other hurdles were revealing themselves

 

By November, I started to experience debilitating pain in my shoulder from repetitive motion at work. I began scheduling doctors appointments to deal with the issue, but my ability to continue the electrician work became extremely limited.

 

Meanwhile, in late November, we found out that our youngest daughter Quinn was most likely moderately autistic. She had not started talking yet, and was exhibiting other behaviors that are typical in autistic children. An example of this Quinn was developing sleeping issues, where she would wake for hours at at time at night and become inconsolable.

 

What this meant for us practically is that Quinn was going to need lots of doctors appointments, assessments, therapy and lots of love! I have discovered that the process of getting her diagnosed and properly helped is quite intensive. I have to make phone calls daily to follow up with multiple offices and providers to make sure everything gets done. Fortunately, we are making good headway with her therapy needs. She will start 2 hours a week starting next week, and most likely be enrolled in therapy 20-25 hours a week within a few months.

 

In January, I was sent home on medical leave from my job. I filed for disability and started physical therapy. I saw a significant improvement in my shoulder. The process to get disability approved was a long and frustrating one. While the claim is approved, I have only received payment for about 3 weeks worth of work. We are still waiting for more money.

 

Because of Quinn’s needs, I filed for Paid Family Leave on Feb. 15th. The process for getting that approved has also been frustrating. Currently the claim is still pending, and getting paperwork from her doctors has been extremely challenging. While I hope it gets approved, we can’t continue to wait any longer.

 

That leaves us where we are now. I've been doing a few gigs and driving when I can for Uber, which has brought in some income, but it is not nearly enough for us to pay all of our bills. I have been effectively out of work for two months, and am officially laid off from my job as an electrician’s apprentice.

 

We are behind approximately $4,500 to our landlord, due immediately. If they do not choose to let us stay in the house, we will need additional money to TRY and find another property, I plan to see how soon I can return to work as an electrician, and gigs seem to be coming back soon!

 

This situation has caused an unbelievable amount of stress on the family. With the lack of sleep, its been tough getting through some days, even though I am no longer leaving the house at 4:30am for work. I hope I’ve explained the situation somewhat cohesively.

 

We are frankly desperate for any assistance before we are forced to leave our house. I also understand that many of our friends and family are not in a place to help financially. Any help anyone can give is a true blessing.

 

The Coyle Family

Brendan - Devyn - Claire - Quinn