Hi! I'm Eddie. I'm a nonbinary library worker attempting to relocate out of state for a new position. This has been a lifelong dream for me, and while everything else has fallen together so well, the housing search was truly a nightmare.

I spent over a month responding to literally every ad on every real estate and classified site remotely within my commuting ability and budget. The market is extremely competitive right now, and that made things very difficult. But I found I also ran into a different hurdle, one I've unfortunately run into here in Pittsburgh. Once people see me, or hear my voice, units suddenly become unavailable or I cease to qualify for what are pretty transparently just pretenses to mask discrimination. As an experiment, I had a cis friend call a couple of the same places I did. Both times, they received callbacks when I did not, despite having called shortly after me.

I even literally flew up to close on a place I was told was being held for me, having already verified my income with the landlord. But the moment I showed up in person, the landlord suddenly started misgendering me (calling me "Edie" despite getting my name right previously), and he flipped through my documents to tell me he'd made a mistake and I didn't make enough.

In a last ditch effort, upon the advice of several locals, I reached out to a trans realtor I found through a queer housing group. With their help, I managed to actually find an apartment for December. Unfortunately, this means I owe the standard broker fee equaling one month's rent. I also have to stay in temporary accommodations for a month, to wait out the gap between my job's start date in November and the start of my lease in December. Effectively having to pay an additional two months rent at once on top of all the other expected costs of moving puts me slightly in the red moving into November.

I have a steady full time job and apartment waiting for me. I just need the funds to travel up there and live on until I start getting paychecks from my new employer. Thus, I'm asking for help covering the broker fee. Any amount, however small, helps, as does sharing this campaign. Thank you for your time and your support!

Help Eddie Relocate

By Eddie Shrecengost

Help Eddie Relocate

Team Members