FARMINGTON, Conn — One family is faced with a tough deadline that may leave them homeless all because of COVID-19.
Sophia Johnson reached out to FOX61 to tell her story. She said, “We are at our wits ends... we are completely done, we have no control over any of the circumstances that are affecting us right now.”
The Johnson family says they were excited to move to Connecticut from New York to be closer to their daughter who attends the University of Hartford, but now the family is faced with a new set of challenges.
Sophia, her husband Kyle, their four kids, and pets have been living in this hotel room at the Homewood Suites in Farmington since April.
The Johnson family was ready to close on a home in Windsor, but things fell apart when the pandemic hit.
“We budgeted what we needed to do to go forward, the numbers worked out but who would’ve known that COVID would’ve come into play,” said Kyle Johnson.
It’s when the pandemic hit that the couple says one thing led to another. Their home back in Freeport, Long Island did not close on time of which they then hit a roadblock with their federal housing administration loan.
In the end, they lost the home they were supposed to move into in Windsor.
“They kept delaying the process, and we are like we can’t keep living off of our closing costs like we can’t keep putting money out and now the credit cards have been wiped out we had to start putting our food on credit cards.”
Sophia is a Type-2 Diabetic, with hypertension and her eldest son has autism, and to top it off unemployment has left the family hanging by a thread, but the Johnsons say regardless they are hanging in there and hope for a fresh start with a new home in Tolland.
“We got to the point where we need $10,000 to close and we don’t have that money," Sophia said.
Money the family hopes the public can lend a hand with, but no matter what, Sophia and her family will meet everything with good spirits.
“We’re still grateful that we have a roof because people that don’t have that but that doesn’t take away from the fact by the end of the month we’re going to be completely out of options," Sophia continued.
Friends and family members of the Johnson family have set up a GoFundMe account to help them through these trying times.