October 27, 2020
To Whom It May Concern at Thomas Safran & Associates,
This short letter is in response to my application for residency at the new McCadden Place Senior Apartments. You wrote and told me that because of the results of a credit check that was done on me, you could not offer me a lease at this point in time. I am exceedingly disappointed, actually more disgusted than disappointed. Please allow me to follow through in more detail. I am a member of LGBTQ and have been keeping regular appointments since September 2018 with caseworker Jonathan Willett.
First of all, I must explain my living arrangements and the difficulty I have been experiencing for several years. I live at 4444 Ensign Ave in North Hollywood at Ensign Manor owned by Westside Habitats. They took over the building in the fall of 2017 and raised my rent to $1700.00 a month from $1400, a big increase. I receive a social security check per month - which amounts to a sum under $1000 - and struggle to make money to pay my rent and utilities. In 2018 the rent increased to $1800 per month and then in 2019 to $1850 per month. I write for the theatre and did manage to do interviews for money up until the pandemic. That plus my social security gave me the opportunity to make my rent and utility payments.
I have credit cards that have gone to collection and consequently do have credit card debt. I have not been able to consolidate that debt because of my high rent and utility payments each month. In a lower income apartment I would have the money to proceed with consolidation. The pandemic has been a nightmare for all of us. There has been no money coming to me from my writing career and with only my social security to support me, I have been on eviction moratorium. With February 1, 2021 fast approaching I may be homeless, on the street.
McCadden Senior Apartments are different from most low income housing projects for seniors because they take in homeless people and those less fortunate than others. I cannot pay back the rent money accumulated during the pandemic nor will I be able to afford $1850 a month to survive. With the current rise in unemployment in California and no work, I may very well have to face homelessness. That, I believe, is totally unfair. I need new teeth, but cannot afford to go to a dentist and get them, even with Medicare assistance. I am in a very bad way and need your help. Debt will eventually be consolidated.
I want to appeal this case. Please assist me.
Sincerely,
Don Grigware
(DEG)
