By:Laura Lane
Mindi Joy Bigman, a single Mom with three children, has expert organizational skills. In only eight months, she has learned to master the art of chart construction, formal letter writing, data entry and telephone espionage.
Bigman, a lifetime resident of Long Beach, is being forced out of her low income housing provided for her by Section 8 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Her landlord needs the apartment on East Park Avenue for one of his relatives. Bigman has been looking for another place to live for her family for the last eight months utilizing every avenue from the Long Beach Housing Authority to the many politicians whose self promoting flyers often litter her mailbox.
To make matters worse, Bigman has a serious speech impediment, a symptom of a chronic neuro-muscular disease known as myasthenia gravis.
"I got it while I was pregnant with my second child," she explained. "It was from the stress of being pregnant. Sometimes when I get stressed out, I can't speak at all. People think I'm retarded or on drugs."
Several pieces of white paper are stapled together organizing Bigman's plight over the last eight months. The chart lists the names, organizations, titles of the people contacted, the dates that a letter was sent and in most cases a column with disappointing results. Several letters from politicians, fit neatly into a notebook that has two pages filled with tiny entries of phone numbers. Bigman has covered all of the bases.
Although her June 1 eviction date is certain, what remains uncertain is where she will go. Bigman along with her children Krystal, 15, Christine, 11, and Michael 2, can't seem to find a rental apartment under Section 8, and because they are not yet homeless are ineligible for assistance from charitable organization such as Catholic Charities etc.
A couple of weeks ago, county Section 8 officials informed her that if she didn't find an apartment, she'd lose her Section 8 status. Section 8 guarantees that the government will pay two-thirds of the participants rent. Bigman has paid the remainder of her rent with her social services housing stipend.
Social services has offered to put Bigman and her family in a homeless shelter, which she does not see as a very good option.
"If I go into the shelter who is going to take care of my kids if I have to go to the hospital?" Bigman asked. There is a very good possibility that she will indeed end up in the hospital in the not so distant future, since her condition is aggravated by stress and that is something that she has plenty of these days.
When Bigman contacted the Long Beach Housing Authority, she was told that they couldn't help. There was a three-year waiting list that was closed to new applicants. Bigman was not under their jurisdiction anyway since she originally didn't apply to them. Fifteen years ago, when she first applied for Section 8, there wasn't a Long Beach Housing Authority.
"Even if I could have put my name on that list, why would I have?" Bigman wondered. "I never knew I'd be homeless."
The LBHA did tell her that they might have been able to put her in senior citizen housing, but that she was ineligible because she had children. Officials sent her a handbook, which explained the Section 8 process to change units.
"I've been on this for fifteen years," Bigman said incredulously. "I don't know why he sent this to me."
And what will happen to these children? Christine and Krystal have always attended Long Beach schools. Will they be able to continue to attend school at all?
The only places that have been offered as temporary solutions to Bigman's problem are in Roosevelt and Hempstead and Bigman is frightened to move her children into those areas citing rampant crime and drugs.
Amidst all of the negativity Bigman has received a great deal of help from one individual--Mark Miller from the Long Island Center for Independent Living. Miller helped her write the many professional letters that were sent and made suggestions to her that she always followed.
One avenue that was investigated to no avail, was the list that is posted in Hempstead at the Nassau County Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs office. On the list were places that currently rented to Section 8 housing assistance program tenants. When Bigman and her daughter Krystal attempted to call in an effort to find a new home, the numbers were either disconnected or someone would answer and then say that it was a wrong number and hang up. This list that currently is posted in Hempstead did not have a single dwelling available for rental.
"Section 8 is having some problems," Bigman said. "Some people are ruining the rentals."
Bigman is hoping to be moved to a place that is safe while she continues her search for a new home for her family.
"When I get my 72 hour notice, I'm going to go to social services and ask them about putting me in a motel," Bigman said.
A week ago, an official from Social Services told her that they were going to do a little research on Bigman, and find out where they could place her. Attempts to reach the official were unsuccessful, though the department did issue a press release to the Herald on Wednesday, May 30 that stated that officials were prohibited from providing information regarding any individual who may be a client of the department.
However, it did state, "It is difficult for individuals to locate affordable housing [in Nassau]. In such a tight housing market, those who have disabilities face even greater challenges. There are few landlords who have handicapped accessible housing, first floor dwellings or other conveniences for the disabled.
"Should efforts to locate housing fail, the Department will take steps to insure that such individuals receive temporary housing on an emergency basis. Temporary emergency housing usually takes the form of a shelter or a motel."
Not the best news for the Bigman family, for whom time is running out.
