Lancaster Mother of 3 Needs Housing
Donation protected
https://ktla.com/news/more-than-80-antelope-valley-families-face-uncertainty-after-motel-housing-funding-runs-out/
Hello. I am a single mother of 3 in a failing homeless assistance program.
I have lived in Lancaster since 1995 and have struggled with being homeless since my teens. Whether it was bad decisions made by my guardians, or running from a rapist and trying to get out of abusive situations, I have been homeless several times. My life has not been easy, but I do not want my children to grow up the way I did.
We are currently living in a motel in Lancaster where we have been since August of 2019. I share one room, with two beds, with my 17-year-old, 9-year-old, and 6-year-old. In July 2019, I refused to pay rent in the roach infested apartment we were living in. After begging for the landlord to get rid of insects, the final straw was when a roach crawled in my then 4-year-old’s ear! We had to get out of there. I agreed to move out because the landlord told me there would not be an eviction, but 6 months later, an eviction showed up on my credit report. The property manager was cruel to us and wanted to make sure we could never rent an apartment again. It worked. I have not been able to get an apartment on my own.
I reached out to an organization called Valley Oasis to get help with housing and was told they could help get the eviction off my record...but that has not happened and now my family has been in a shady motel for 17 months.
Valley Oasis placed me in a motel where so many horrible things continue to happen to us and around us, but with an eviction on my record, and the fact that we are in a pandemic, no one gives a low-income mother of 3 a second look, even with a co-signer. I watched multiple families that were here in the motel also in 2019 move to homes after being granted section 8.
My family remians stuck here but I have not, and will not give up!
Every day I hunt online, make phone calls, and meet with whoever might want to give me a chance just ...but I am constantly turned down for lack of credit, the eviction, and being low income. I've spent $100-$250 on money orders to apply for places every month since being homeless, and I am also paying for a storage unit with our belongings that I may lose because I can't continue to afford it.
LA County Section 8 doesn't have funding to pull me off the waiting list to be housed even though homeless are supposedly priority and my wait and fight with them has been 10 years long.
My family cannot help me either.... my Mom lives in a single and my grandparents are too old with too many health issues for us to move in there.
We have been told many times by Valley Oasis that the funding for our motel voucher program is running out of money and that we were going to be kicked out onto the streets. We are at risk of that happening again at the end of January. Valley Oasis does not offer any other back up plan for people like me, but they did tell me they would find me a safe place to park so I could live in my car with my 3 kids.
I do not want to continue the cycle of homelessness and pass it on to my children.
If you have never been homeless, you cannot understand the lack of assistance out there. I am pleading with someone to find an organization to help my family get out of this motel and into housing.
To say I am tired would be an understatement. My kids are mentally and emotionally changing from their surroundings....2 of my children are in therapy...and so am I.
I've been diagnosed with complex PTSD, anxiety, bipolar depression, and staying in this motel is a daily trigger for me.
We just want our forever home in the Antelope Valley, or to live somewhere with section 8. My income only covers a one bedroom apartment, but if we could get help and just get a two bedroom apartment that would be amazing.
I am emotionally exhausted from trying to find a home for my kids and don’t want to be seen as only deserving of a low-income, crime and pest infested, run down apartment. Every day is a struggle to hold on to any hope...please let us know if you can help.
Hello. I am a single mother of 3 in a failing homeless assistance program.
I have lived in Lancaster since 1995 and have struggled with being homeless since my teens. Whether it was bad decisions made by my guardians, or running from a rapist and trying to get out of abusive situations, I have been homeless several times. My life has not been easy, but I do not want my children to grow up the way I did.
We are currently living in a motel in Lancaster where we have been since August of 2019. I share one room, with two beds, with my 17-year-old, 9-year-old, and 6-year-old. In July 2019, I refused to pay rent in the roach infested apartment we were living in. After begging for the landlord to get rid of insects, the final straw was when a roach crawled in my then 4-year-old’s ear! We had to get out of there. I agreed to move out because the landlord told me there would not be an eviction, but 6 months later, an eviction showed up on my credit report. The property manager was cruel to us and wanted to make sure we could never rent an apartment again. It worked. I have not been able to get an apartment on my own.
I reached out to an organization called Valley Oasis to get help with housing and was told they could help get the eviction off my record...but that has not happened and now my family has been in a shady motel for 17 months.
Valley Oasis placed me in a motel where so many horrible things continue to happen to us and around us, but with an eviction on my record, and the fact that we are in a pandemic, no one gives a low-income mother of 3 a second look, even with a co-signer. I watched multiple families that were here in the motel also in 2019 move to homes after being granted section 8.
My family remians stuck here but I have not, and will not give up!
Every day I hunt online, make phone calls, and meet with whoever might want to give me a chance just ...but I am constantly turned down for lack of credit, the eviction, and being low income. I've spent $100-$250 on money orders to apply for places every month since being homeless, and I am also paying for a storage unit with our belongings that I may lose because I can't continue to afford it.
LA County Section 8 doesn't have funding to pull me off the waiting list to be housed even though homeless are supposedly priority and my wait and fight with them has been 10 years long.
My family cannot help me either.... my Mom lives in a single and my grandparents are too old with too many health issues for us to move in there.
We have been told many times by Valley Oasis that the funding for our motel voucher program is running out of money and that we were going to be kicked out onto the streets. We are at risk of that happening again at the end of January. Valley Oasis does not offer any other back up plan for people like me, but they did tell me they would find me a safe place to park so I could live in my car with my 3 kids.
I do not want to continue the cycle of homelessness and pass it on to my children.
If you have never been homeless, you cannot understand the lack of assistance out there. I am pleading with someone to find an organization to help my family get out of this motel and into housing.
To say I am tired would be an understatement. My kids are mentally and emotionally changing from their surroundings....2 of my children are in therapy...and so am I.
I've been diagnosed with complex PTSD, anxiety, bipolar depression, and staying in this motel is a daily trigger for me.
We just want our forever home in the Antelope Valley, or to live somewhere with section 8. My income only covers a one bedroom apartment, but if we could get help and just get a two bedroom apartment that would be amazing.
I am emotionally exhausted from trying to find a home for my kids and don’t want to be seen as only deserving of a low-income, crime and pest infested, run down apartment. Every day is a struggle to hold on to any hope...please let us know if you can help.
Organizer
Myisha Bickham
Organizer
Lancaster, CA