Open Secrets editor Rachel Kramer Bussel started a GoFundMe campaign with all donations going directly to Dianne Moritz for rent, transportation, and other expenses related to her eviction. Donations in any amount are appreciated as is spreading the word: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-senior-dianne-whos-facing-imminent-eviction
Dianne, I'm so sorry to read about your plight! If you don't mind my unsolicited advice, it sounds like you might benefit from a metropolitan area. They often get bad reputations for being unaffordable, but they tend to offer more low-income options with a faster turnaround time than less urban areas. Cars aren't necessary, either, so there's a significant savings just there. Free or reduced transit fare options are available in most cities, as well.
I live in Seattle, and just last week walked by a low-income, nice-looking building in the Capitol Hill neighborhood advertising studios and one-bedroom units starting at $850. Plus, metropolitan areas can also offer more services to get you into housing, etc., in general. Each city should have a housing authority website you can check out (Seattle's is at https://www.seattlehousing.org/housing/sha-housing).
I swore I took a photo of the one building to send to my dad who's also going through landlord issues in Florida while on SSI benefits, too, but I can't seem to find it. (My grandmother is in a care home there, and he can't/won't leave yet, understandably.)
I'm sorry everyone you thought you knew has abandoned you like this. I hope you find everything you need, and wish you nothing but the best!
One last proactive suggestion/question? Have you started a GoFundMe? I'll follow the comments, and will happily donate.
I found the place with pod-like, inexpensive units, if you’re interested. I know Seattle is a trek, but Amtrak or Greyhound buses are a relatively affordable option. Here’s the link the apparently $750/month studios: https://www.apodment.com/
I'm still waiting for my affordable apt. here. At my age, I can't imagine starting over in a new place where I don't know anyone, would have no doctors, dentist, and other connections. I've been in Southampton for over 40 years now. The Town has excellent services here for seniors: meals, an errand and shopping person, drivers to doctors, and more. The public library is right in the village....and NY pizza. I haven't seen a Greyhound bus station anywhere near here. If I were younger..... Thanks a lot for your support of a complete stranger. You are an angel, too.
So sad and it's happening all over the country. Families have no place to go, people with pets have no place to go. One thing I will say, to anyone dealing with a similar situation, please don't wait until the end to tell people. It is humiliating, but if you get your story in local media, there are people who may be able to help in time. Sometimes paying the higher rent is the easiest way to deal with it. I'm glad to see this story here, but if you're being evicted again, perhaps get some coverage in the Hamptons. Send this to local reporters. Also, there need to be stronger rent protections. Landlords should make a living but they should not be allowed to evict someone with only a few months to go, or double their rent. People can't even think straight or make a living if they're constantly in a battle with their landlord. We need some reasonable protections so people don't feel they have to move just when they get settled (and make renovations, as you did!) Also, please set up a GoFundMe so people can help.
The situation is dire. I did contact reporters and got ghosted by everyone. The editor published an essay, but not in the editorial section....in the last page of the home style section!!!!!!!!!
The mega rich have taken over out here. Landlords are greedy. No one cares.
We now live in a greed obsessed world filled with self-absorbed people.
This simply breaks my heart. I wish I were a millionaire and I would send for you right away. I live in the South, out in the country, and would love to live by the sea because water is therapeutic to me.
I am praying for you and your situation. It doesn’t make sense why so many, including your sister, have turned their backs on you.
This is horrible. Deplorable. If I didn't live in a motor home, id take you in myself. My boys always tell me I have no idea how bad the housing situation is, I have one living day to day in a motel with his gf and pets! I am praying for you to find some soon! 🙏🙏
Thank you, Kim. It is. I've had an ad in the local newspaper for almost a year saying I need a room to rent. Only a handful of people contacted me by phone. Many of those also needed a room and, for some reason, thought I might help THEM.
One woman had a motor home to rent just for the winter and wanted $1,900 a month, way more than I get from Social Security. A young woman told me her dad has three houses out here, but he won't let her use one, as his girlfriend hopes to inherit them when he dies!!!!!!!!!!!
Another girl told me she went to look at a room for rent and it was a storage shed! Can you believe it??!!
The adult protection man is working to find me a place. The court case was settled last Friday. I have to vacate by Dec. 31, but will pay no more $.
My landlord's mother has an apt where her own mother lived, but she refuses to rent it out.
Only my half sister threw me out. She didn't like having me there as she and her husband were used to living by themselves.
My parents were both only children so I never had aunts, uncles, or cousins.
My half-brother and I have been estranged for 40 yrs, ever since I took him in (1984) and he stopped paying his part of the rent. I said pay or leave and he chose to leave....owing me $. He keeps grudges and hasn't spoken to me in years. My real sister died some time ago.
The guy in Iowa was a drinker. I never should have gone there.
No, I am very independent, but fell down a flight of stairs during COVID, spent 3 months in rehab, have aches and pains, and I'm old.
I can relate to this, and I'm so sorry you're going through housing insecurity. I have been through this several times- though I am decades younger than you. I spend some of my adolescence homeless and have had many terrible rentals. Right now I pay $1450 for a one bedroom that's not in a metro area. The housing crisis is real.
I'll be honest- when I first read this, because of my own personal experiences, I bristled at the sense of entitlement I felt. It's so easy to tale things for granted, and it felt as if the author had taken at face value her access to housing. But the truth is that we SHOULD be able to take that at face value. Housing is a human right. Unfortunately many people in the U.S. face similar circumstances. Many of them have no pension or family support to rely on to speak of. Ans many people don't pay attention to this until it affects them directly. It sounds like you had a good deal on rent for a very long time, which is amazing.
I truly hope you can find some stable housing soon. From my own experience, I can say that we can unfortunately rarely depend on others to pick us up unless we have done the work needed to create a community network for ourselves. You are clearly resourceful and educated- education is a privilege many people do not have access to. My hope is that you can find some freelance work and a sense of independence. As I've learned in my own life, sometimes the best gift we can give ourselves is living alone- even if that means sacrificing things in other areas of life. I wish I could say it's going to improve but I don't see that happening anytime soon. As someone in my 40s I am not counting on my pension/ social security and don't expect to retire at all at this point.
I had planned ahead with many IRA accounts in several companies, I also intended to work my whole life, but suffered a stroke at age 70. Thankfully my brain was not impaired, so I can still earn $ by writing. I can no longer run my 30 yr housecleaning biz in the Hamptons due to balance and walking impairments. Furthermore, who could ever have predicted this world of greed that we now live in....celebrity and money mongers out for the bucks....a world filled with indifferent people focused on their self importance??
When I lived in LA in the 70's and 80's I wrote and published editorials about the homeless problem then. No one cared. Now look what's happened there. Thousands of poeple living on the streets, in parks, etc. INSANITY
I worked in inner city LA teaching and paid $200 a month for a rent controlled apt in West Hollywood.
I, foolishly, thought I could make it as a picture book writer. However, I can't live on royalties of 3% .
I am not entitled. I've been working my entire life, starting with babysitting at age 10 for 50 cents an hour.
Southampton Town keeps the affordable apts a big, dark secret. There are many affordable units all over town. My senior center social worker signed me up for only 1. WTF??!!
Oh I hope I didn't imply that you were entitled!! It was my own shit coming up which I hope I made clear. I'm so sorry you're going through this and I hope things get better soon. It's so horrible that housing isn't a guarantee in our country. It should be.
Yes, you did make that clear, so no worries. Just seeing the photo of the mansion sitting on the dunes might make anyone think that. Rachel did ask if I had a picture of my former house, but I don't. Needless to say, it was a cinder block converted garage, originally painted baby blue, with old barn doors bolted together, which was not at all good in winter, as the chill seeped through the cracks. It was heated with propane gas and not up to standard housing codes. Still, I made it cozy.
Secure housing should be a right! Southampton Town does not inform the public that there are many affordable apt. units throughout the town. Perhaps, I will eventually get one....
I was saddened to read this but not surprised. People are callous for the most part and seem to think that someone else’s hardship is catching. I hope you find your way. I’m in my 70s and it can be a scary age to be when you feel abandoned. I know the feeling!
You certainly have your shard of hardship, and it is sad that this is happening repeatedly. Have any of the counselors at social services or the Township department of aging been able to discover why you keep having these issues put upon you? Have they not been able to assist you by finding you a permanent residence? I keep thinking what a shame that all that money you invested in the home you were renting would not have been better put to use as a down payment back in the day where you could have bought the home you were renting? Since you were able to pay that rent a mortgage back in 2021 might not have cost much more than the rent at that time. Having said that I read that is not your current situation. I believe however that there has to be many organizations in your town that could help you find a more permanent residence. A limited income should not deter those organizations from assisting you. There are local government agencies, religious organizations, veteran and/or cultural organizations equipped to help you as you age. I would reach out to all of them and ask for their help to at the very least find you a permanent place of residence. I wish you luck and hope your circumstances change for the better especially now in your waning years.
Thank you for your thoughts. If I could have bought a house in the Hamptons, I would have. You have no idea what houses cost here. Friends of mine, who've been flipping houses for many years, bought a tear down for a million dollars a few yrs ago, built a mega mansion, then sold it for over 3 mil. A house in Sag Harbor of 600 square feet is listed for 1.3 mil.
What I wrote in my essay is true....everyone in town positions just say I'm not the only one that is going through this madness.
Oh sorry I was thinking of years ago now not the last 15 or so. Sorry I misled you saying that. I’m honestly sorry for your issues and it’s awful that none of those organizations will help you. I didn’t think you weren’t honest in your essay, I was astounded at the cruelty of others you have been in contact with. Despicable of them.
no problem, even yrs ago, when i first moved here from LA (making only $25,000 a year teaching in the inner city) i couldn't buy anything. Renting was the only option. The place I fixed up was over several years, as it was a complete dump and not up to code. I fell down the stairs in 2020, broke over 10 bones in my left leg, surgery wasn't an option due to covid, was in rehab for 90 days, and could barely walk when I got home. I'm fortunate to have not broken my neck and died.
Open Secrets editor Rachel Kramer Bussel started a GoFundMe campaign with all donations going directly to Dianne Moritz for rent, transportation, and other expenses related to her eviction. Donations in any amount are appreciated as is spreading the word: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-senior-dianne-whos-facing-imminent-eviction
I am so grateful for Rachel's compassionate and efforts in doing this on my behalf.
Dianne Moritz
I'm sorry you're in this situation. I hope you find a better solution soon.
Thanks, I'm working on it.
Dianne, I'm so sorry to read about your plight! If you don't mind my unsolicited advice, it sounds like you might benefit from a metropolitan area. They often get bad reputations for being unaffordable, but they tend to offer more low-income options with a faster turnaround time than less urban areas. Cars aren't necessary, either, so there's a significant savings just there. Free or reduced transit fare options are available in most cities, as well.
I live in Seattle, and just last week walked by a low-income, nice-looking building in the Capitol Hill neighborhood advertising studios and one-bedroom units starting at $850. Plus, metropolitan areas can also offer more services to get you into housing, etc., in general. Each city should have a housing authority website you can check out (Seattle's is at https://www.seattlehousing.org/housing/sha-housing).
I swore I took a photo of the one building to send to my dad who's also going through landlord issues in Florida while on SSI benefits, too, but I can't seem to find it. (My grandmother is in a care home there, and he can't/won't leave yet, understandably.)
I'm sorry everyone you thought you knew has abandoned you like this. I hope you find everything you need, and wish you nothing but the best!
One last proactive suggestion/question? Have you started a GoFundMe? I'll follow the comments, and will happily donate.
my reply got deleted somehow. i went to des moines, ia, then albany, ny, both urban areas where no one answered rental calls or emails.
Rachel started a go fund me:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-senior-dianne-whos-facing-imminent-eviction?attribution_id=sl:67e64eb2-0de8-46e9-a1f2-3d53d17d8bf3&utm_campaign=man_ss_icons&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link
Thank you for your suggestions and thoughts.
Donated. So glad to see others have donated, and thank you, @Rachel Bussel for getting one started for Dianne! That was so thoughtful. 💝
Rachel has been so kind plus she paid to publish my work. She is an angel.
I found the place with pod-like, inexpensive units, if you’re interested. I know Seattle is a trek, but Amtrak or Greyhound buses are a relatively affordable option. Here’s the link the apparently $750/month studios: https://www.apodment.com/
I'm still waiting for my affordable apt. here. At my age, I can't imagine starting over in a new place where I don't know anyone, would have no doctors, dentist, and other connections. I've been in Southampton for over 40 years now. The Town has excellent services here for seniors: meals, an errand and shopping person, drivers to doctors, and more. The public library is right in the village....and NY pizza. I haven't seen a Greyhound bus station anywhere near here. If I were younger..... Thanks a lot for your support of a complete stranger. You are an angel, too.
So sad and it's happening all over the country. Families have no place to go, people with pets have no place to go. One thing I will say, to anyone dealing with a similar situation, please don't wait until the end to tell people. It is humiliating, but if you get your story in local media, there are people who may be able to help in time. Sometimes paying the higher rent is the easiest way to deal with it. I'm glad to see this story here, but if you're being evicted again, perhaps get some coverage in the Hamptons. Send this to local reporters. Also, there need to be stronger rent protections. Landlords should make a living but they should not be allowed to evict someone with only a few months to go, or double their rent. People can't even think straight or make a living if they're constantly in a battle with their landlord. We need some reasonable protections so people don't feel they have to move just when they get settled (and make renovations, as you did!) Also, please set up a GoFundMe so people can help.
The situation is dire. I did contact reporters and got ghosted by everyone. The editor published an essay, but not in the editorial section....in the last page of the home style section!!!!!!!!!
The mega rich have taken over out here. Landlords are greedy. No one cares.
We now live in a greed obsessed world filled with self-absorbed people.
Thanks for your thoughts.
This simply breaks my heart. I wish I were a millionaire and I would send for you right away. I live in the South, out in the country, and would love to live by the sea because water is therapeutic to me.
I am praying for you and your situation. It doesn’t make sense why so many, including your sister, have turned their backs on you.
I started a reply, but it disappeared when I answered the phone.
Thanks a lot for your thoughts.
I have no living relatives, but a half-sister and half-brother and am estranged from both.
Most of my lifelong friends have died, one at 40 (lung cancer), 2 guys in LA at 60. My best friend died last night from lewy body dementia.
It's a brave new world, not the one I grew up in.
Take care. I’m praying that the higher power lifts you up and removes the obstacles in your path.
TY, I need all the help I can get. Take care.
This is horrible. Deplorable. If I didn't live in a motor home, id take you in myself. My boys always tell me I have no idea how bad the housing situation is, I have one living day to day in a motel with his gf and pets! I am praying for you to find some soon! 🙏🙏
Thank you, Kim. It is. I've had an ad in the local newspaper for almost a year saying I need a room to rent. Only a handful of people contacted me by phone. Many of those also needed a room and, for some reason, thought I might help THEM.
One woman had a motor home to rent just for the winter and wanted $1,900 a month, way more than I get from Social Security. A young woman told me her dad has three houses out here, but he won't let her use one, as his girlfriend hopes to inherit them when he dies!!!!!!!!!!!
Another girl told me she went to look at a room for rent and it was a storage shed! Can you believe it??!!
The adult protection man is working to find me a place. The court case was settled last Friday. I have to vacate by Dec. 31, but will pay no more $.
My landlord's mother has an apt where her own mother lived, but she refuses to rent it out.
It's a mad world, for sure.
I can't believe that even family treated you like a stranger. So sad. Do you need a lot of help? Why does everyone keep “kicking you out”?
Only my half sister threw me out. She didn't like having me there as she and her husband were used to living by themselves.
My parents were both only children so I never had aunts, uncles, or cousins.
My half-brother and I have been estranged for 40 yrs, ever since I took him in (1984) and he stopped paying his part of the rent. I said pay or leave and he chose to leave....owing me $. He keeps grudges and hasn't spoken to me in years. My real sister died some time ago.
The guy in Iowa was a drinker. I never should have gone there.
No, I am very independent, but fell down a flight of stairs during COVID, spent 3 months in rehab, have aches and pains, and I'm old.
I imagine you have aches and pains!
I'm so sorry and still I pray you find something soon! 🙏🙏
Thank you...much appreciated.
I can relate to this, and I'm so sorry you're going through housing insecurity. I have been through this several times- though I am decades younger than you. I spend some of my adolescence homeless and have had many terrible rentals. Right now I pay $1450 for a one bedroom that's not in a metro area. The housing crisis is real.
I'll be honest- when I first read this, because of my own personal experiences, I bristled at the sense of entitlement I felt. It's so easy to tale things for granted, and it felt as if the author had taken at face value her access to housing. But the truth is that we SHOULD be able to take that at face value. Housing is a human right. Unfortunately many people in the U.S. face similar circumstances. Many of them have no pension or family support to rely on to speak of. Ans many people don't pay attention to this until it affects them directly. It sounds like you had a good deal on rent for a very long time, which is amazing.
I truly hope you can find some stable housing soon. From my own experience, I can say that we can unfortunately rarely depend on others to pick us up unless we have done the work needed to create a community network for ourselves. You are clearly resourceful and educated- education is a privilege many people do not have access to. My hope is that you can find some freelance work and a sense of independence. As I've learned in my own life, sometimes the best gift we can give ourselves is living alone- even if that means sacrificing things in other areas of life. I wish I could say it's going to improve but I don't see that happening anytime soon. As someone in my 40s I am not counting on my pension/ social security and don't expect to retire at all at this point.
I had planned ahead with many IRA accounts in several companies, I also intended to work my whole life, but suffered a stroke at age 70. Thankfully my brain was not impaired, so I can still earn $ by writing. I can no longer run my 30 yr housecleaning biz in the Hamptons due to balance and walking impairments. Furthermore, who could ever have predicted this world of greed that we now live in....celebrity and money mongers out for the bucks....a world filled with indifferent people focused on their self importance??
When I lived in LA in the 70's and 80's I wrote and published editorials about the homeless problem then. No one cared. Now look what's happened there. Thousands of poeple living on the streets, in parks, etc. INSANITY
I worked in inner city LA teaching and paid $200 a month for a rent controlled apt in West Hollywood.
I, foolishly, thought I could make it as a picture book writer. However, I can't live on royalties of 3% .
I am not entitled. I've been working my entire life, starting with babysitting at age 10 for 50 cents an hour.
Southampton Town keeps the affordable apts a big, dark secret. There are many affordable units all over town. My senior center social worker signed me up for only 1. WTF??!!
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts on my essay.
Wishing you better luck ahead.
Oh I hope I didn't imply that you were entitled!! It was my own shit coming up which I hope I made clear. I'm so sorry you're going through this and I hope things get better soon. It's so horrible that housing isn't a guarantee in our country. It should be.
Yes, you did make that clear, so no worries. Just seeing the photo of the mansion sitting on the dunes might make anyone think that. Rachel did ask if I had a picture of my former house, but I don't. Needless to say, it was a cinder block converted garage, originally painted baby blue, with old barn doors bolted together, which was not at all good in winter, as the chill seeped through the cracks. It was heated with propane gas and not up to standard housing codes. Still, I made it cozy.
Secure housing should be a right! Southampton Town does not inform the public that there are many affordable apt. units throughout the town. Perhaps, I will eventually get one....
I was saddened to read this but not surprised. People are callous for the most part and seem to think that someone else’s hardship is catching. I hope you find your way. I’m in my 70s and it can be a scary age to be when you feel abandoned. I know the feeling!
You certainly have your shard of hardship, and it is sad that this is happening repeatedly. Have any of the counselors at social services or the Township department of aging been able to discover why you keep having these issues put upon you? Have they not been able to assist you by finding you a permanent residence? I keep thinking what a shame that all that money you invested in the home you were renting would not have been better put to use as a down payment back in the day where you could have bought the home you were renting? Since you were able to pay that rent a mortgage back in 2021 might not have cost much more than the rent at that time. Having said that I read that is not your current situation. I believe however that there has to be many organizations in your town that could help you find a more permanent residence. A limited income should not deter those organizations from assisting you. There are local government agencies, religious organizations, veteran and/or cultural organizations equipped to help you as you age. I would reach out to all of them and ask for their help to at the very least find you a permanent place of residence. I wish you luck and hope your circumstances change for the better especially now in your waning years.
Thank you for your thoughts. If I could have bought a house in the Hamptons, I would have. You have no idea what houses cost here. Friends of mine, who've been flipping houses for many years, bought a tear down for a million dollars a few yrs ago, built a mega mansion, then sold it for over 3 mil. A house in Sag Harbor of 600 square feet is listed for 1.3 mil.
What I wrote in my essay is true....everyone in town positions just say I'm not the only one that is going through this madness.
Oh sorry I was thinking of years ago now not the last 15 or so. Sorry I misled you saying that. I’m honestly sorry for your issues and it’s awful that none of those organizations will help you. I didn’t think you weren’t honest in your essay, I was astounded at the cruelty of others you have been in contact with. Despicable of them.
no problem, even yrs ago, when i first moved here from LA (making only $25,000 a year teaching in the inner city) i couldn't buy anything. Renting was the only option. The place I fixed up was over several years, as it was a complete dump and not up to code. I fell down the stairs in 2020, broke over 10 bones in my left leg, surgery wasn't an option due to covid, was in rehab for 90 days, and could barely walk when I got home. I'm fortunate to have not broken my neck and died.
😢 truly sorry for all you have been put through.
Thank you, Kathy.
I was curious why police escorted you off two different properties.
That's how it's done if you don't want to leave. Recently learned that they should call protective services, at least if in Long Island, NY.