After 4 years, I finally got approved for SSDI. $1,100/month and an additional $81/month for my 13 y/o child. - eviltoast

How the hell am I supposed to live? This isn’t even enough to cover rent in my area. I have a move-out date of August 31st and I have no clue what we’re going to do.

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    5 months ago

    I’ve never known anyone who actually received a livable amount of money via SSDI.

    I have seen some screwy situations as a result, there just isn’t enough money involved for one person (much less ‘and child’) to survive.

    As others have suggested, there’s the vanlife route, but that’s dependent on being able to maintain said vehicle, pay for camping and gas, and cover the other relevant expenses such as insurance.

    I’ve seen people share residences, make use of temporary accommodations, get subsidized housing, and a variety of other things. None of those are necessarily quick fixes, unfortunately.

    To my knowledge, there is not a single location in the continental US where that would be sufficient money to live on. I’m genuinely sorry, though glad you got approved.

    There are parts of the country where your back pay could go towards purchasing a home, land, a trailer, and/or similar. Trailer parks charge lot rent, property taxes cost money, and then there are maintenance costs as well so that may or may not be viable for you.

    Here in east-central IL, one might well be able to purchase a trailer already on a lot, and pay the lot rent and have enough to live on given back pay. Other parts of the country, YMMV. On the other hand, in addition to maintenance and utility costs, you’re also on the hook if the park has issues and/or the company/group running the park has issues - as well as potentially for collective expenses such as sewage infrastructure maintenance. Not to discourage this line of thought, just to point out that there are potentially significant expenses involved in the future, just like with any ownership interest in any home.