Usually is the location and the surrounding environment (sometimes "friends etc") that leads a person in a certain situation. A radical change may help as may make things worse (but it can´t be much worse then an eviction notice I guess).
A new location can offer less stress, fresh start, maybe cheaper accommodation and lifestyle, but most importantly motivation and new opportunities.
The 10k are in the range of a company owner instead of employment. Some states/countries facilitate the startup and if you did it once you can do it again.
What about step 1? I seem not to get the 'may be toxic part'