Rehousing Mem by Decembers End

Hello, I’m Mem, a chronically ill Black MaGe. I use they/them pronouns. I have lived with another disabled Black person, call him D, since 2019. We both left abusive families and hometowns that year following harm and auto theft from my father & his family.

We were homeless December 2019 until December 2021. I negan crowdfunding to survive living in my car from summer 2020, through fall. It took over a year to escape the expensive & predatory cycle of temporary shelters. Unfortunately, in the 3 years since being housed, we’ve been supported through two leases in homes that were very poorly managed, neglected with biohazards.

When our lease ended last year, we had just spent a summer without AC due to broken air ducts. We also had no fridge, a broken seal that took months to diagnosed & replaced. The year and months prior to that lease we saw many difficulties that led to financial insecurities that persisted, already in poverty; the repair issues in that summer cause late rent for two months right before the lease would end. It was,thus, not renewed.

At our current place, when we moved here, we had a fridge that wouldn’t cool for a month. Even with documentation, the supplier refused to change it, even harassed me in person about COVID, religious beliefs, and my masking. The same supplier returned to fix our stove in March that hadn’t worked since December move-in, and similar ableist harm was done. I provided masks, they refused, and left my stove on the porch.

In these first few months, we saw multiple repairs: busted windows, kitchen sink dripped & still does, washer water line didnt work, etc. After fixing the water line, a sewage backup started in Januanry in our basement, and occurred repeatedly, even with snake-n-rooter repairs. It flooded our entire basement in mid-April, and sat there through May until drains were fixed. I owe $300 to get the space sanitized.

I was told this home was made ready with a cleaning, but even maintenance disagrees. My fridge’s seal is broken again, and there are still ongoing repairs being done.

I don’t want to move from here. Moving isn’t accessible or safe: we’ve lost winter wardrobe and bedding to the April sewage flood, our car is unsafe to drive and can’t haul our belongings. Not to mention, we’ve been reinfected by SARS multiple times since 2021. We have new illnesses, repeatedly exarcerbated by poverty and struggle. I’m fatigued, often bed-bound & unable to do tasks for ourselves like cleaning and cooking.

Unfortunately, our current 12-month lease is coming to an end December 31st

It’s not safe for us to move, especially with nowhere to go. This is why I’m here to ask for support. We need to relocate in less than a month.

I attempted and failed to raise goals as early as two months ago. I needed to be able to afford deposits by mid-November but was only able to make one application to a home, which was subsequently denied. A $700 goal to restore gas heat failed, too, and we missed the date for early LIHEAP applications. We ended up paying this and the remaining $800 that LIHEAP would not be able to cover in time to restore our heating, but our furnace is broken and we are dangerously cold and scared all the same.

Worse, lack of direct aid has forced us to tap in GFM: we don’t have $3,000 with which to afford movers or make applications and deposits to home. I must raise our remaining $4k and beyond in less than two weeks.

If you have the ability to donate, please do. Sharing this need to people via word of mouth, messaging on social medias, making original posts using my links and graphics– are all equally supportive and much needed. I becoming more ill and unable to do this with the little rapport we have..

Thank you for reading. Please continue to care and support all vulnerable people, especially Black, Queer and multi marginalized ones in forced poverty, the new season is here and challenging many of us.