A Bronx Family Struggles To Survive Financially & In Heath
“For now,” Ms. Santiago said.
“The mortgage company owns it,” her husband added.
“Right now,” Ms. Santiago, 48, said, “we’re practically out the door.”
Their two-family home, in the Bronx’s Little Italy, is sparsely furnished, with a folding table and chairs in the dining room. A picture taken on their wedding day hangs high on the wall.
The Santiagos have two sons at home, Timothy, 16, and Nicholas, 20; and twin granddaughters, Tiffanie and Stephanie Caprio, 14, whose mother is unable to care for them.
For 23 years, Mr. Santiago, 58, has worked at a Bronx car service as a manager and dispatcher. Until last summer, he was earning $635 a week.
They bought their house for $155,000 in 1998, using $20,000 in savings as a down payment. Their mortgage payments started at about $1,000 a month, but over the years, in the thrill of first-time homeownership, the Santiagos made some refinancing decisions they now regret. Their monthly payments swelled to $3,599, they said. The family was living paycheck to paycheck, but they were making it.
Then, last year, Mr. Santiago had a heart attack.
“It wasn’t a real big heart attack where I fell on the floor,” he said. “It was just a lot of chest pains that wouldn’t go away. I thought it was heartburn.”
On July 2, he drove himself to St. Barnabas Hospital.
Later that day, he was transferred by ambulance to Montefiore Medical Center. Three days later, he had surgery to unblock a clogged artery.
Recovery took almost four months, and during that time Mr. Santiago could not work. Ms. Santiago does not work: She has epilepsy, and her seizures are not well controlled by medication. She cares for her husband at home.
While he was hospitalized, Mr. Santiago learned that he had diabetes. He has a fear of needles, so his wife gives him his daily insulin injections, as he looks away.
“I tried letting him do it himself and he got upset,” she said. “He wouldn’t do it.”
The family income shrank to $340 a month in disability payments. The Santiagos soon exhausted their savings and fell behind on their mortgage payments and other bills.
Mr. Santiago returned to work at the end of October. By then, they owed about $14,000 in mortgage payments and had received a notice of foreclosure. Mr. Santiago is not strong enough to resume all of his previous duties, and now works four days a week as a dispatcher, earning $350.
Their monthly income is supplemented by $1,646 collected from two tenants who rent parts of the house. They also receive $772 in food stamps each month.
With Mr. Santiago back at work, they were able to resume making mortgage payments. For help with bills, they turned to the Children’s Aid Society, one of seven agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund.
In the fall, $1,388.51 in Neediest Cases money covered the family’s $910.82 Con Edison bill and a $477.69 water bill. “That was a great help because I didn’t have the money,” Mr. Santiago said.
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