I am currently in a situation where I am paying $320.00 per week to rent a small room in an extended stay motel. My entire paycheck is not much more than my rent. In fact, if I am unable to work at least one day of overtime per week, I am unable to purchase groceries or hygiene or a bus pass to get to and from work. If I miss even a half day of work (I will be missing two days this week because of the Thanksgiving holiday) my check will not be enough to cover the rent and I will be immediately homeless. There is no eviction process when the rent is paid weekly, you either pay on the day it is due each week or you vacate the room.  I have found several apartments for rent under $500.00 per month. I could easily pay the rent and have enough for other necessary expenses if I could only get into one. It would be life changing, literally, to be able to go from paying over $1280.00 per month to a more affordable amount of $500.00.  The problem is that since every penny goes to paying my weekly rent, I am unable to come up with the initial move in costs for a "real" apartment. They want first (and sometimes last) months rent, a deposit equal to one month's rent, an application fee, and then there's the utility hook up and whatever deposits they require. I will never be able to come up with enough money to move into an affordable place without assistance with the initial move in costs. In the meantime, finding myself homeless is a very real threat, especially during the holidays when I am faced with a large number of unpaid days off.