Avoiding a Homeless Foop

October 8, 2018 3:08 PM

Looking for resources for low-budget/disabled renters in the Central Coastal California area or other semi-nearby areas that might be easier. After 13 years at the same address, a new owner has given me until the 30th of November to vacate. I've been so comfortable in this place that it gives me several problems with moving.

The apartment was an extreme bargain (for the San Luis Obispo County area) when I first got it and two previous landlords only raised my rent twice in 13 years, plus given me some bonus storage space for only $20 a month (related to another moving issue).
I first moved here when I qualified for Social Security Disability (Congestive Heart Failure complicated by Depression) and my physical state has slowly deteriorated since, most notably by a mild stroke that weakened my right side three years ago. I'm using a walker for short distances, and a wheelchair for longer, so accessibility is an issue.
Part of my 'comfortableness' allowed me to badly mishandle my budgeting that I only recently started to reverse when I realized my monthly payments had become more than my fixed income. Most of the excess possessions in my storage space and apartment can be sold for emergency cash but I'm very inexperienced selling thru craigslist locally or ebay. I probably qualify for rental assistance in more than one way (from disability and for Section 8 Low Income) but the waiting lists for any place that accepts them (that I've found so far) is way longer than two months.
I have a couple very good neighbors who I have exchanged favors with for a long time and they have volunteered to do the heavy lifting and truckdriving for wherever I need to move, but there is so much else to do and I never realized how weak-and-or-lazy I'd become until now.
So any advice for my situation is welcome.

posted by oneswellfoop to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

Have you contacted SLO's disability services? Since you get SSDI, you should be eligible. A caseworker of some kind might be able to help find resources you or neighbors might not think of.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 4:07 PM on October 8, 2018

As you're looking, when you come across a wait list, put yourself on it.
posted by 8603 at 5:15 PM on October 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You mentioned selling stuff through craigslist or ebay, but in many areas the easiest way to a quick sale is via either your community's facebook rummage sale page(s) or by using the LetGo app. You might also check out this previous ask and others like it geared towards helping people raise quick cash from their couches... but not, of course, at the expense of working to find a new place.

I don't want to get your hopes up, but since your landlord is a new owner, if you have a lease your eviction might be under terms that would qualify you for relocation monies. It's been too long since I lived in California for me to offer current information, but the people at the weekly free eviction clinics at the county courthouse will know, as will the people at the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo (HASLO).

I hope things work out for you, foop.
posted by carmicha at 5:24 PM on October 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Any rental assistance waitlists that you qualify for are very likely to have very long waitlists, so you really need to get your name on them as soon as possible. In kind of amazing timing, it looks like HASLO (Housing Authority of San Lious Obispo) will be opening their waitlist for Section 8 next month. https://www.haslo.org/

I strongly encourage you to submit your name for this, and any other rental assistance you can.
posted by Kpele at 7:54 PM on October 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Nthing 8603. Any waitlist you come across, sign up. I have done this in similar situation and no regrets. Several people ahead dropped out, and suddenly I was moved ahead.
posted by 15L06 at 4:35 AM on October 9, 2018

Get on the waitlist, as others have said. Also go down to the Department of Human Services and apply for any local-level assistance available.
posted by bile and syntax at 5:06 AM on October 9, 2018

Try to find a multiservice community agency (a nonprofit, not a government office) that provides housing assistance in your zip code. You can just call and ask them if you're in their catchment area. Or google "homelessness prevention" in your locale. If you max out all your benefits (with help from the multiservice agency), this may free up a few more dollars to spend on housing. Most places will give you a month's rent for a security deposit.
posted by 8603 at 4:20 PM on October 9, 2018