The problem(?) has been that the Patreon income has been just enough to keep it all going. And then there was the crowd funding for the move, and then I think a 2nd crowd funding?
When you are just getting by living the dream it must be hard to think it can't be sustained by doing the same thing and hoping things will improve just a bit to make it viable again.
I simply can't imagine being content just getting by and renting. I bought my house when I was 25 and sacrificed a lot to make it happen but it was the single best decision I ever made. Over time rent always goes up, and for quite a long time now rent has been going up faster than wages are in a lot of areas and if I hadn't bought I would have to move somewhere else. The writing has been on the wall for many years, Philly is gentrifying and the sort of spaces where Fran has been living/working are going away, that's happening and it's not going to change, those spaces are not coming back in that area any more than horse and cow pastures are going to make a return in my home town, they're just gone. I don't like that sort of progress but stopping it is like trying to stop a freight train by grabbing onto it and dragging my feet. If she wants to maintain the current lifestyle then moving locations is the ONLY option. If she wants to stay in that general part of Philly (for stated reasons that don't sound at all rational to me) then it's going to require a significant lifestyle change, ie move into a much smaller space and get a regular job. Maintaining the status quo is just not going to happen, especially as we edge into a recession.
I still cannot make any sense of the idea of someone wanting to live in Philadelphia because it's safe. Safe compared to what? Somalia? Afghanistan?
Looking up the stats I found this:
2022 statistics, crime ranked from 1 (lowest) to 100 (highest)
Philadelphia, PA New York, NY United States (overall)
Violent Crime 50.8 28.2 22.7
Property Crime 46.6 24.9 35.4
So violent crime is more than twice as high as in the country as a whole, and nearly twice as high as NYC which is not exactly known as a shining example of safety. I have not yet seen a breakdown comparing other major cities across the nation but to my knowledge as a lifelong northwest coast resident, Philly has always had a reputation as place infested with violence and gang activity. Fran is the first person I've heard in my entire life mention feeling safe as a reason for living there, that's just bizarre.
I also looked up listings of the most LGBT friendly cities in the USA and nothing in the entire state of PA even made any of the lists I found.