This morning, I received US$150 in help. Thank you.
In Mexico, I have had help from people over the years, but I have not had consistent help or anyone on whom I could rely. In the last six weeks, the number of people who want to help me has been at its peak, which is great. While the number of people has been high, the dependability of the people has not differed from previous years. Despite the lack of change in dependability, the volume of people allowed me to make more progress on many problems than I had previously made.
I had made progress in multiple areas, and in the last two weeks, the progress in most areas slowly collapsed. Three of the most important issues, shelter, increase my income, and improving my access to medical care, however, were still progressing and were promising. On three consecutive days, each of those three goals disintegrated: the third one occurred this morning.
The three goals we were working towards are all dead and irrevivable. Of the 30 or more people who were helping me, nearly everyone has disappeared. Two people, however, persist and I can rely on them more than I have been able to rely on anyone else in Mexico.
Poverty is expensive: housing
Paying to sleep in a hotel is analogous to buying a meal while traveling. While paying monthly rent is analogous to buying groceries in bulk: 30 full days instead of less than one day. Buying in bulk is less expensive per unit, but it requires a higher up-front expenditure. I rarely have enough cash to buy anything in bulk, including housing. If I had enough, however, I could save 50-75% of my housing costs.
As I have previously discussed, you fix homelessness with housing. The two people who are still reliably helping me have both put a lot of effort into learning about and solving my very difficult housing problem. Our previous goal incinerated this morning, but a few hours ago, we regrouped. We have a new opportunity, but the window of opportunity is currently less than 24 hours because tomorrow, I will no longer have enough money to buy in bulk: to pay rent for one month.
I have found exactly one hotel that has exactly one room in which the trigger noises do not cause the symptoms to overwhelm me. There are certainly other hotels with multiple hotel rooms, but the cost is far beyond my reach: MXN$750-1000 per night (US$38.86-51.82). This hotel only costs MXN$250 per night (US$12.95).
If I can find an apartment to rent before tomorrow afternoon, then with help from other people here, I can rent the apartment. If I must pay only US$13 for another night in a hotel, however, renting an apartment will again be out of reach. Then I will be forced to pay hotel prices instead of rent prices for housing, and my cash will be quickly depleted again. Poverty is expensive.
How you can help
There are two ways you can directly help with my housing problem. First, for the low, low price of only US$12.95 (MXN$250), you can purchase time. I mean you can buy me and the two people helping me an extra day to find an apartment: MXN$250 is one night in the hotel.
Second, rent here is obscenely cheap compared to the United States. More than 25 years ago, I had an unfurnished apartment in Houston that cost around US$200 for rent plus more for electricity. (No one had internet access back then.) Here, for around US$200, I can have a small apartment with basic furnishings, and it includes electricity, water, gas, and internet.
Until recently, no doctors had been able to properly diagnosis me or find a cure. Now that I have a diagnosis and I know the cure, if I can get an apartment and the medicine, I can heal and start working again. You can support my healing by helping me pay for this low rent. With the button below, you can choose monthly recurring support.
