Hello everyone,

I am at my humblest in asking for your help today.

After covid, our new family faced a lot of challenges. We incurred debt over the pandemic and have been working steadily to recover, month after month, ever since. We have had a stable home, stable work, and upward career moves for both of us. With that stability, we decided to take an offer for consumer debt relief. It was explained that we would forfeit credit score points (I was around 800 at the time) to cut substantial owing amounts and stop all interest immediately. This would stop the cycle of only making small principle payments each month and never really ending the debt. We were told that as long as things were stable, and we weren't applying for new phones, vehicles or mortgages, that we should have ample time to continue our good habits and rebuild appropriately. So we moved ahead. Two years passed, and things were really good. Then our landlord decided to sell the house we live in, so we had 90 days to find a new home with two children under 5, a baby on the way, a dog, and rebuilding credit scores.

Little did we know that after covid, credit checks and scores are now the most important factor in applying for rental housing. Throw in a housing crisis, and an ultra competitive market against other families moving to the city, and we find ourselves trapped. We provide verification for 2 years of income, letters from employers, references from landlords confirming we haven't been late on rent in 10 years, letters from our trustees affirming we are in good standing. None of it matters. The landlords want to see 750+ and that's simply not possible for us in 90 days. I didn't choose to find a new home, this is purely circumstantial.

Our remaining options to avoid having to move out to my father-in-law's farm will be to come up with a couple months rent up front. We have our next damage deposit and first month ready, but we can't come up with another 1-2 months rent (@2500/month) in order to provide peace of mind to a would-be landlord. If this money is raised, it will be used to front rent and hopefully sign a lease before we end up squatting or living in a hotel. This is incredibly hard to put into words. I never in my life thought I would ever have to ask for help with something like this. But we're losing sleep. The children are dysregulated and they don't understand why. We thought the housing crisis was affecting home buyers, not renters. We weren't watching because we were safe. We need help.

Friends, if you've read this far, thank you. Any donations will be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately there is no family wealth on either side, there is just hard work. I am working as many hours as I can find, my wife is running herself thin at work, and up all night with our girls. We are doing everything we can, but we just need a little help in this difficult time. Thanks again.

Tony Zamboni & Family