Rockland mother fears homelessness after losing longtime apartment

ROCKLAND, Maine (WMTW) - A single mother of four living in Rockland is packing up and moving out of their apartment of ten years.

Amalie Dibenedetti received a notice to vacate from her landlord’s attorney.

“It stated that she was representing my landlord and they were happy to have me as a tenant for as long as they did but I needed to leave on or before Aug. 31 or I would be evicted,” Dibenedetti said.

Dibenedetti claims she called the property management offices and was told her space would be renovated before being put back on the market.

“There’s just nothing around here. If there were more choices that would be one thing but there really isn’t,” she said.

For now, they’re moving in with her mother roughly 30 minutes away from work, school and daycare.

In the meantime, they’re selling many of their belongings at yard sales.

“After the year of the Section 8 then I became a tenant at-will on a month-to-month lease so that’s how they’re allowed to do it,” she said.

According to data from Maine Housing, the cost of living in the Rockland metro area is skyrocketing.

The annual income needed to afford a median two-bedroom apartment jumped from $36,075 in 2017 to $60,957 in 2020.

Households unable to afford the median two-bedroom apartment increased in the same period from 50.7% to 75.7%.

“I’ve been trying to even keep my job simply because of all the daycare struggles I have just from being a single mother of four,” Dibenedetti said.

Through a GoFundMe, loved ones are trying to help Dibenedetti buy land with an old trailer for $60,000.

The campaign to do so is far short but she has hope.

“So that we don’t have to worry about this kind of thing happening. A place where they can run freely and play and have all the toys that they want. We can have animals,” Dibenedetti said.