Disabled, then Homeless?
What Happens When "the Village" Isn't Enough?
Editorial
by Jessica Schneider
Editor
03-21-24
“Hey friends I am reaching out because I do need your support. I have lost my home and I have to relocate within 30 days.”
A friend sent this message on a group thread of active volunteers in Loveland. We are the people we reach out to when we know someone needs help. This time, it was one of us.
Reading it, I went into problem-solving mode. Surely my friend who is educated, disabled, and has advocated for herself and many others navigating housing and living with disabilities for many years couldn’t just… be made homeless?
There must be some kind of mistake.
It turns out, there wasn’t a mistake. This is her reality, and she is not alone.
Below are two present-day stories about your neighbors for whom the system does not work.
Our community banded together to help. The best we could do was help her pack up all of her belongings and sell them. Let that sink in… A group of easily 15-20 people actively contributing knowledge, care, boxes, elbow grease, donation requests and emotional support to sell nearly all of a person’s belongings.
That’s the best we could do.
It didn’t happen to me, but it could. It could happen to you, too.
Not you? You are a hard-working, able-bodied person? That can change. It changed for her.
Not you? You have been diligent with your savings and have enough to cover at least six months of your living costs in case of an emergency? Well done, but six months of savings can turn into bankruptcy and homelessness very quickly, even without the exorbitant medical bills that are likely to add up in case of a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, a traumatic brain injury… Any number of things that life can serve up to you and your family, no matter how hard you have worked. You can’t protect yourself from disability by being a “good person.”
Nationally, disability payments haven’t caught up to inflation… Not even close.
What I observed watching my friend make impossible choices during the past few weeks is just a glimpse of the living nightmare that can set in for anyone in this City, because, like many other parts of the United States, we do not have anywhere near enough actually affordable housing in Loveland.
There is no emergency housing. The waiting list for “Housing and Urban Development,” also known as Section 8 housing, is nine months to one year long, at least, according to The Loveland Housing Authority website. If you get on the waiting list, and your number comes up? You better have a mailing address that you regularly have access to check, because you will be notified by mail, and have only seven days to respond.
If you need federally subsidized housing, what are the chances that you will have the same mailing address for a year? What if you miss that letter?
Why is this so hard?
We don’t live in a merit-based society. I challenge you to spend one day with a person who has no other option than to live on Social Security Disability Income in Loveland, or wherever you live, to understand this basic fact.
Loveland resident Amanda Waddell* is sharing her story publicly for the first time because, in her words, “I want to remove the shame around this, for myself and anyone else who might read this.”
Thank you, Amanda.
Amanda’s Story
“For the past 16 years, my chronic diagnosis has required me to receive two days of ridiculously expensive infusions twice a month, every month. That’s almost a thousand infusions, nearly eight thousand hours, sprinkled with a few rounds of chemo on top.
Over those 16 years, the right side of my body has become disabled. My right hand doesn’t work, my right foot doesn’t work well, and the overall body weakness has slowly progressed. But the infusions that I sit in, connected to my chest port, have saved me from being in a wheelchair. So they’re worth it, and I’m so grateful they are available.
A few years ago these infusions were not so readily available to me because of the cost. At almost $17,000 per day, the deductible was unmanageable. I couldn’t maintain a stable job that would provide insurance and at the same time be able to work with my infusion schedule and possible side effects every other week.
Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) seemed like the only way to maintain any sense of stability in my healthcare, to ensure that at the very least I could get my infusions. And it has. But it hasn’t been easy.
My monthly disability payment is less than $1200 per month. That’s it. I won’t go into what that doesn’t cover for me and my family. Anyone reading this knows how ridiculous it is to expect someone to live on $1200 a month, even if I didn’t have kids and animals and the need for expensive personal items like tampons and electricity. Yes, I could work a little each week, as allowed by SSDI. I could probably find a minimum-wage job that would work with my health schedule. I could earn a little extra each month if it fell below the guidelines set by the government.
But that’s risky.
If I chose to participate in the “Ticket to Work” program, I would be reevaluated regularly to determine if I truly need these infusions, if I really need this coverage. And after a few years of supplemental employment, a high percentage of people are often kicked off of SSDI. So, I have had to choose my health over financial security. I have had to choose the ability to walk and function over owning a car and a house.
Every day I choose to trade the stress of failing health for the stress of paying bills and providing for my family. And I know that through all of this bullshit and challenge, I’m still one of the lucky ones. I have a home that I’m not in danger of losing - today. I have food and water and an unimaginable community of people who won’t let me go under. Because that’s the only way to navigate this dis-ease of being disabled in America - To rely on your people, and not the “system” that should be protecting and caring for the vulnerable.”
These are just two of so many stories of people, disabled and abled, who are faced with impossible decisions related to remaining in safe and stable homes in Loveland today. The Loveland Voice will be reporting on this issue, including all the facts and figures and hopefully a shiny new infographic in the near future.
Until then, we needed to share this because nothing will change without public awareness and the will to demand an actual safety net for Amanda, my friend, your mom, your son… Yourself. That’s the other thing I think is easy to ignore, because it is hard to accept that something like this could happen to you, too. No one wants to believe that. It doesn’t make it any less true.
If you were to become disabled tomorrow, what would the people who depend on you do?
I hope you will speak truth to power regarding our housing crisis, now. That starts at the local level, including City Council and your County Commissioners. and extends to your representatives at the state and national level.
A shiny sales pitch from any developer will not solve this problem. As a community we can demand that we codify our standards so that any new development must provide say, 25 percent of any new housing built to be affordable for seniors and people living on disability or a low, fixed income. As a City we can invest in housing and rent or sell below the market rate. There are more options. It’s beyond time to examine them and adopt them to meet the growing need.
As I say to my son, (and myself), “Do it for your tomorrow self.” Not having housing for one of us deprives all of us of our potential as a community.
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Do you have a personal story to share? Please send a message to jessica@thelovelandvoice.com All communication will be considered private and confidential unless permission is provided by the sender to share their story.
Notes: Amanda Waddell is a lifelong friend of mine and a total force behind TLV. I invited her to share her story and she graciously agreed. The person currently facing losing her home agreed for her story to be shared so that more people understand the impossible challenges she is facing… Because she knows she is one of so many of our neighbors in similar predicaments.
Artwork by the author: Baba Yaga’s House, mixed media.