[jyl]

Good friend of ours:
- Her retail shop went under
- She borrowed on her house to support the shop, and had to sell the house
- Moved to a rental house owned by her friend, who rents it to her cheaply
- Her husband died of cancer
- A plumbing leak flooded the rental house and the kitchen had to be replaced along with a bunch of the stuff in the basement
- She lost her job when Covid hit
- She got a housemate who lives in the finished basement
- Her knees gave out and she had both replaced in the last year, with much pain - she’s still recovering
- Her friend who owns the house is in failing health, the daughter will inherit the house and may or may not keep renting it
- Her other friend who lives nearby and has been helping her with rides to PT is being moved away due to accelerating dementia
- Her housemate lost her job
- Tonight the washing machine in the basement failed and flooded the basement
- My wife and a neighbor were over there with sump pump, shop vac, mops, and fans. I just got back from helping. Basement is mostly dry with fans and dehumidifier running. After the last flood, the basement was rebuilt to withstand another flood, so it should be ok
- If she doesn’t have a job, and after special Covid unemployment benefits end, she’ll have like $1500/mo to live on
- She’s in her early 70s I think? Has worked her whole life, just hasn’t caught enough breaks and made a couple bad business decisions.

On the positive side, she’s found a job, where she can work from home, and will hopefully start soon.

Scary - her situation is so fragile. We won’t let her become homeless, if it comes to that we’ll contribute enough money to keep her housed.

There’s a lot of people in similarly fragile situations, made much worse by Covid. The federal money is all that is keeping them from falling through the cracks. Yeah I don’t like seeing these budget deficits. But there’s no alternative in the near term.