family and current housing Jenniffer and her children have moved between rentals several times over the past years. Their current home is a large, old house that use to be divided into three separate rental apartments. The layout now is cumbersome with random doorways, several living areas, six bedrooms, numerous bathrooms (some of which are unusable), and two kitchen areas. Jennifer generally appreciates the space because of her large family, however the utility bills are excessively high because she is heating and cooling the huge house – including unneeded spaces. In fact, she is paying more in electric, gas, water, sewer, and trash bills each month than she pays in rent. Although it seems odd to want a smaller home, Jenniffer said she actually wants to downsize to something more manageable. The rental also has some structural problems including replacement windows that don’t properly fit or lock; a badly warped back door; water and mold in the basement; fuses that frequently blow because of poorly rerouted electric when the apartments were combined; places on the downstairs ceiling where the plaster chips off when people walk upstairs; and cracks along wall and ceiling. When Jenniffer heard about the Habitat homeownership program, she realized it might be the avenue for owning a safe, decent, affordable place of her own and deiced to apply.
a bright future
Throughout her time in the Habitat program, Jenniffer has proven to be a hard worker and dedicated to making her dream of homeownership a reality. Jenniffer not only completes the Habitat weekly program requirements but is a busy mother of five sweet children and works fulltime. She recently graduated as a certified medical assistant and loves her job. She participated in Habitat’s ten-week House2Home education series to learn valuable skills regarding homeownership, maintenance, and personal and financial wellness. Her willingness to learn and cheerful personality makes her a joy to work with. Now that she has selected her property, Jenniffer eagerly looks forward to the hours she will spend building her future home. It will be even more special to build alongside her older children and make memories with them. “I look forward to having a place to call my own home,” Jenniffer explained. “I think it’s going to give us more stability and bring us closer together as a family.”
