PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, Va. — She'd been waiting for nearly two months, but a disabled Prince George woman who was on the verge of being evicted from her home got a last minute payment from the Social Security Administration.
That Sunday night deposit meant Bobbi Perez could pay her landlord the three months of back rent she owed on Monday. So that landlord dropped her case in eviction court Tuesday morning.
"While I have disabilities now and all that, I just want to live a normal life," Perez said Tuesday.
Perez is grateful her four-year journey to get Social Security disability benefits is almost complete.
"I just want to be able to go to all my doctor's appointments like I'm supposed to, knowing that I'm able to be able to pay my rent on time and just live a normal regular life that I haven't been able to do for a very long time," said Perez.
After a nearly two-month wait, Perez received about $15,000 of the $22,000 the Social Security Administration owes her over the weekend.
That payment enabled her to pay her back rent and avoid facing a judge in eviction court.
But no one from the SSA has told her when she might get the remaining balance, which is the same uncertainty she's faced since early December when she got the letter telling her she would get two years of disability back pay.
Watch: Disabled Virginia woman faces eviction; Social Security continues to hold money
"I just assumed when I got the letter that, okay, the money or check or whatever followed that, but it didn't happen that way," Perez said. "Like I said, I'm still in limbo as far as when am I supposed to get the rest. Because no one has told me anything."
Perez points out while she can pay some important bills, trying to get that "normal life" means doing something with her car. That's where the rest of her disability back pay is needed.
"I don't have my own vehicle right now," she said. "My vehicle is broken down. It needs a motor. I was able to pay my rent and get that caught up, but I'm still without a vehicle. I have a friend, and I'm using his car to get back and forth because I don't know what to do as far as that. Because I'm still waiting."
Perez says having CBS 6 share her story helped resolve her crisis, but worries there are many unseen others in the same position.
"I didn't think that I had to go this way to get what I worked my whole life for," said Perez. "But at that point, I didn't have a choice. I didn't know where else to turn or what to do. Like I said, I even had a lawyer that didn't even help me. They pretty much got what they were owed and pretty much washed their hands of me. Then I had to figure it out on my own."
Perez says while she first applied for disability benefits four years ago, these last two months since the SSA declared her eligible were the longest part of the wait.
Late Tuesday afternoon, CBS 6 got an email response from a different SSA spokesperson explaining that some past due benefits are paid in installments.
But it did not address the crucial question for Perez: when should claimants expect to see the benefits the SSA has told them they are getting. It only said they try to do so in a "timely" fashion.
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