Hello! My name is Ragna Cook, and my mother Debra Barger-Cook and I are homeless. We lost our apartment in Southern California in January of 2018 and lived in a sedan until October 2018, when we were in an accident and the sedan was totaled. We were lucky enough to get a replacement van that, while it has more space for us, is still a car and not an actual home.

My mother and I are both disabled and on disability, making just under $2,000 a month between us. It's not quite enough for a two bedroom apartment in the area where we live, but it's close. The problem is we have no money saved for application fees, down payments and anything else related to moving costs (such as hiring movers to get our things out of the storage units we maintain). I was expecting a back payment of my disability for the amount of just over $1,000 to put towards application fees and a down payment, but with the government shutdown it is now a month late and I am losing hope I will get it at all.

I had gotten a $6,000 back payment in January and used much of the money to pay off back debts in an effort to improve our credit (one debt was settled for $2,000 but is still on our reports; however, we have letters that we can show that we are absolved of the debt and the balance is to be paid by our ex-roommate) and for hotel room stays as weather in Southern California has been cold and rainy off and on since January. We also paid off our car insurance for the year with that and registered the van, which will keep it registered until January 2020.

The money we raise here will be used for three purposes: (1) to obtain housing with the associated costs (application fees, down payments, hiring movers); (2) to supplement our income to afford a two-bedroom apartment, as my mother and I each need our own room since my 16-year-old son visits on weekends and would need space of his own, which we are planning to give him in our living room; and/or (3) to take care of bills that we cannot cover related to housing, such as electricity/water/gas, trash fees, etc. if we put most/all of our monthly disability payments towards rent. Chances are we will need to keep one of our three storage units so that will be a recurring monthly payment of at least $200.

Any help we can get would be amazing. I am waiting to find out if, now that I am officially declared disabled, I can finally qualify for Section 8 housing in the city of Oceanside (I have been on the list for over ten years now) which will help with monthly rent but not necessarily other costs. I am optimistic we will get it as my mother has a friend on the city council who is rooting for us, but it's a matter of waiting at this point.

Hopefully, we can get housing before we hit two years of being homeless. I am optimistic that we will get out of the van, but as I said, it's just a matter of waiting now to find the right place for us.