"2010 marked a challenging year for my family. My stepfather had recently passed away, and my mother suffered a stroke shortly after. Luckily, she made progress in a rehabilitation center and was cleared to move home. I quickly modified my house to accommodate her needs and found a care team to assist her while I was at work. I never wavered in my choice to care for my mother but worry and financial stress began to degrade my sleep quality.
My doctor prescribed me Ambien, a sleep aid, to ease the exhaustion. Unfortunately, the side effects of Ambien were not well-known at the time, and I had a scary reaction to the medication. Filled with fear, yet still dazed by the medication’s sedative effect, I called 911 for help. I struggle to remember what happened when the paramedics arrived but was told that I made a threatening statement to them. From this point, I no longer felt in control of the cascade of events that quickly stripped away my management career, friends, family, reputation, and certain rights.
For over eight years, I fought hard to find a job, but even entry-level positions turned me down. The threat I had made to the paramedics had resulted in a charge on my criminal record that made potential employers wary of hiring me. Until 2018, I had made ends meet and had kept a roof over our heads. Despite having paid off the mortgage for my house several years prior, it was the property taxes that finally pushed me into debt.
I reached out to the tax assessor’s office to see if there were any assistance programs or ways to climb out from under the mountain of debt that was piling up. Each year, the office had no way to help me and COVID only magnified these issues. By 2021, I was running out of options after learning that I could not liquidate my retirement fund and that the early pension that I was eligible for could only pay for future property taxes, and not from the year’s past due. With my home on the auction list, I started reaching out to any available organization that could help.
In 2022, I found Northwest Justice Project, and, almost immediately, they had ideas and suggestions to help me. My NJP attorney worked with me to discuss low-interest loans and rescue grants. Since I was unemployed, I was not eligible for low-interest loans. However, I was eligible to have my past due taxes and interest vacated, which took my home off the foreclosure list. My NJP attorney was by my side every step of the way to get the interest fees waived by the county and apply for a grant to nullify the delinquent taxes. I was no longer fighting to keep my home and I had a plan to pay my property taxes in the years to come. Thanks to Northwest Justice Project, I can look to the future and live my life without the fear of losing my home."
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