asexual paper salesman

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the family requests that trash gengar's privacy be respected during this difficult time

I'm on a lease with one roommate. my SSI is just under $1,000 / month (which is my entire income except for around $100 in SNAP). the rent for our apartment is $1,000 / month. plenty of people have arrangements where one room is smaller than another, and the person in the smaller room pays less rent, so it's equivalent to the amount of space each person has.

you can't do this on SSI. if i choose to have less space so i pay less rent, the difference is then deducted from my SSI, because the difference is counted as income. SSI counts an arrangement like this as if i'm being GIVEN money. if you're on the lease you MUST be paying the same amount of money as anyone else on the lease. BUT! not if you aren't on the lease. if i'm "renting a room" it doesn't really matter how much rent i'm paying, but then i lose any protections as a tenant. and as a DISABLED person, in addition to the legal vulnerability that that would put anyone in, it would also mean i have no right to request DISABILITY accommodations (like when I needed the management company to remove the threshold bumps from the doorways so i could get my wheelchair through). this particular lease also doesn't allow anyone to live here who isn't on the lease, so "renting a room" without being on the lease is just flat out impossible. (i can't just find somewhere else to live that is not only within our budget and accessible as a wheelchair user, but ALSO allows me to live there without being on the lease. it was hard enough finding this place. i also can't just live somewhere with lower rent because i need to be near the city for my medical care.)

the only other option this leaves me is subsidized housing. i'm only eligible for subsidized housing by myself, but because of my disability i'm not able to live by myself. section 8 has an accommodation for live-in carers, so their income isn't counted against section 8 eligibility, BUT you're not allowed to apply with someone you've lived with before, so this isn't an option for me or many other people: the only person i'd be able to choose as a live-in carer is the person i currently live with. if i were to live alone in subsidized housing, the government would be paying for my SSI, my housing, and a paid carer, rather than just paying for my SSI so i can pay for my own housing and live with someone who helps me at no cost.

it would save the government money to just let me keep my SSI and leave me alone, but instead they restrict my options for housing, micromanage my living arrangement, and put me at higher risk of housing instability.