Who can I pay to help a needy relative secure low-income housing in LA?
September 16, 2020 5:47 AM Subscribe
Hi there. I have a relative with no immediate family who is in dire financial straits, and has some cognitive disability/delays. She got an offer from low-income subsidized housing through the LA government after being on he waitlist for several months and needs some help moving through the extensive vetting process. I'm burned out and far away. She has a complicated past and doesn't doesn't understand her rights on several issues. Who can I pay to help her with this? A lawyer?
Basically, have a single/childless relative in LA who struggles cognitively (mildly) with things like paperwork and decision-making. After she lost her hourly job thanks to COVID, she hasn't been able to secure work. Things are looking grim for her industry, so I imagine things getting worse for her here on out. She signed up for low-income/affordable housing unit through the relevant LA government office and was just offered something after months on the waitlist, but needs to go through vetting of her finances and history first.
She's about to have all of her documents/work history/assets vetted right now, and I notice she is struggling with things like what to do about closed bank accounts, whether she can propose a co-signer on the place if she doesn't have enough money in her account or if that will tank her application, whether she is allowed to drive for Uber, and so on.
I also know she is not always forthcoming with me about her issues and life because she's embarrassed about a lot of them, and I want her to have someone who can guarantee strict client privilege in guiding her through this process. For example she used to makes some of her money working (legally) at a strip club, but she's super ashamed of that and won't open up about it unless the process is totally confidential. I want her to work with someone (who is not me) who can coax her into disclosing things she is ashamed/cagey about, but who can ALSO tell her what her rights are throughout this process.
Basically I want to make sure she both gets the unit and is ALSO doing things by the book so she doesn't get kicked of her housing out later or do anything unethical (she has the reasoning ability of a child and will make dumb decisions and I want to get ahead of that).
I'm MORE than willing to pay for someone to guide her through it -- I'm so thoroughly destroyed between COVID and doing huge emotional labor for her and the rest of my immigrant extended family that I can't help anymore myself. I just need to offload this work onto someone else, a professional.
So who should I be looking for? Is this a job I can quickly locate and pay lawyer to help her do, or are there other consultant types I can help her find?
Basically, have a single/childless relative in LA who struggles cognitively (mildly) with things like paperwork and decision-making. After she lost her hourly job thanks to COVID, she hasn't been able to secure work. Things are looking grim for her industry, so I imagine things getting worse for her here on out. She signed up for low-income/affordable housing unit through the relevant LA government office and was just offered something after months on the waitlist, but needs to go through vetting of her finances and history first.
She's about to have all of her documents/work history/assets vetted right now, and I notice she is struggling with things like what to do about closed bank accounts, whether she can propose a co-signer on the place if she doesn't have enough money in her account or if that will tank her application, whether she is allowed to drive for Uber, and so on.
I also know she is not always forthcoming with me about her issues and life because she's embarrassed about a lot of them, and I want her to have someone who can guarantee strict client privilege in guiding her through this process. For example she used to makes some of her money working (legally) at a strip club, but she's super ashamed of that and won't open up about it unless the process is totally confidential. I want her to work with someone (who is not me) who can coax her into disclosing things she is ashamed/cagey about, but who can ALSO tell her what her rights are throughout this process.
Basically I want to make sure she both gets the unit and is ALSO doing things by the book so she doesn't get kicked of her housing out later or do anything unethical (she has the reasoning ability of a child and will make dumb decisions and I want to get ahead of that).
I'm MORE than willing to pay for someone to guide her through it -- I'm so thoroughly destroyed between COVID and doing huge emotional labor for her and the rest of my immigrant extended family that I can't help anymore myself. I just need to offload this work onto someone else, a professional.
So who should I be looking for? Is this a job I can quickly locate and pay lawyer to help her do, or are there other consultant types I can help her find?
A call to Adult Protective Services may also help to put you in touch with social workers who can help ferry your relative through this process. Also call Jewish Family Services of LA, they do a lot of social work and advocacy for people of all origins and religious/non-religious backgrounds.
posted by quince at 12:39 PM on September 16, 2020
posted by quince at 12:39 PM on September 16, 2020
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posted by yclipse at 6:16 AM on September 16, 2020