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Disability Can't Cover Rising Bills

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 27, 2008

TAMPA - Johnny Jackson Jr. had already cut everything else from his budget. If he wanted to hang on to his house a little longer, the electricity had to go, too.

So for four months, he lived without. It was either dark and hot, or just hot. But always lonely.

"It's depressing," Jackson said, sitting in his Belmont Heights living room just after 4 p.m. on a painfully hot day. "Sometimes I just want to cry. I don't know why this is happening to me."

Jackson, 57, is five months behind on his mortgage. His homeowners insurance shot up this year, causing his payment to jump from $543.43 to $795.

There's no way he can pay it. Injured in a pipe-laying accident 10 years ago, he draws a monthly disability check of $642.

He bought his modest three-bedroom concrete block home in 1996. He paid $51,000 and got a fixed interest rate. He was proud.

At the first sign of trouble, Jackson said, he called his bank for help. He said he was told to find cheaper homeowners insurance. He has had no luck. His last hope is to persuade the lender to modify his loan so his payments are low enough to cover the insurance with his disability check.

He's awaiting a reply.

Jackson didn't make a bad financial decision or sign up for a risky mortgage. Like others in the Bay area, skyrocketing insurance premiums and higher taxes have pushed him into an uncomfortable financial situation and possibly foreclosure. He wonders how much suffering he is willing endure.

The dark brought a new torment: Too much time to think.

"All these thoughts would go through my head," he said. "Sometimes I think God is just keeping me alive for the punishment."

Jackson got food stamps and learned to live with the heat. With no refrigerator, he kept only canned food, cookies, crackers and fruit in the house.

He stayed outside most of the day and went in to sleep about 2 a.m. Just as he drifted into a good sleep, the sun would peak through the vinyl miniblinds, and the concrete home would start heating up.

Living without electricity, though, brought more problems. It didn't take long before vandals realized he was alone. When he left one afternoon to fill up a water jug at a convenience store, someone broke in and stole his computer, TV and VCR.

"I guess they figured I didn't need them in the dark."

So Jackson stopped leaving the house unless it was absolutely necessary. When he did leave, he locked his front door by screwing it shut. He slept during the day and kept a gun by his side at night.

"I figured people who come to break in wouldn't have a screwdriver or take the time to go back and get one," he said.

He could have asked one of his five adult children in Miami for help, but his pride got in the way. "I don't want to worry them with this."

Now, he waits for the bank's decision. With every missed mortgage payment, the outcome looks more bleak.

But one bit of luck has come his way.

He met someone at church who needed to rent a room, a man with good credit who could get the electricity turned back on. So for $400 a month he has a roommate.

He knows it sounds crazy to move a stranger into his house. He worries a bit about his safety but has a good feeling about his new friend.

He knows it's just temporary and won't save his home from foreclosure.

But he has the air conditioning back. And he has someone there who listens.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com.

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