SUBSCRIBE: iTunes | Stitcher | Google Play | Android Apps
Charis Hill is a professionally disabled writer, speaker and model living with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), Major Depressive Disorder, Anxiety and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Charis talks about how they have to rely on food stamps and Medicare while living on $12,000 a year, why they had to do things like keep cash on hand when going through the homebuying process, and why Charis feels lucky despite the many systemic barriers stacked against them.
Stick around to the end of the episode where I’ll distill some takeaways including some insights into the housing situation for lower income residents in the U.S.
What You Hear in This Episode:
- What life was like for Charis before their diagnosis
- How Charis managed to survive while not being able to work and waiting for their disability benefits to kick in
- How much their house cost and what it took to purchase it
- What Charis wants others to know about the privilege of choosing where to live
- Why Charis doesn’t feel like they’re settled into their home yet
Resources:
- Medicaid eligibility requirements
- I’m a disabled American living in poverty, and buying my house gives me 2 things: stability and a home
- Disability Benefits – Social Security Administration
- Becoming Incurable – Charis featured in this documentary
- The Privilege of Having Enough
- Buying a Home a FHA Loan
- What are ABLE Accounts?
- Follow Charis in Twitter
- The Ultimate Guide to Money Mindset Mastery
- Values Based Spending Guide
*Thanks to Donovan Dorrance for the awesome theme music
My grandson and I both need this information.
We started off our own home ownership by buying a house in a much cheaper area about 100 miles from where we actually lived and renting it out. We were only able to buy it with some compensation from an accident my husband had – totally not his fault – which prevented him working for a long time. We built up enough equity to be able to afford to buy a place for ourselves. We slept on the floor, we did all the work ourselves (with 2 small children). It was so worth the effort to get that first house and in the end, I built up property that now provides me with a retirement income.