Meet Tara, Isabelle, and Dylan!
I have spent the last eight years of my life trying to rebuild. I lost everything due to an ex-husband who accumulated debt, and once we signed the separation agreement he filed bankruptcy, leaving me with all the debt built up during our marriage. My savings, investments, our home. Everything. Gone. I thought that was it!
My children and I have been bounced around from rental house to rental house during, and due to a string of bad luck we have lived in six houses in eight years. I have spent so much of my life trying to provide a stable, warm home for my two children but when we were forced to move due to disrepair, pests and untreated mould issues it very upsetting. Add to that the cost of renting, I felt like I was never going to get ahead.
I want to be able to continue to contribute to our RESP as my oldest is starting high school this year. In four years she will be moving on and I don’t want her to have to worry about money when going to college/university. All I wanted to do was save money to buy our own home but when the housing market rose, I knew I would never own my own home.
I was speaking with a co-worker that attended a Simcoe County Home Builders Association meeting and spoke to someone from Habitat for Humanity. As I made decent money, I thought I would never qualify for a Habitat house, but he told me to apply anyway. I did and when I was accepted and moved onto the second step, I was so excited to tell my kids that we all cried! I cannot express in words what making it this far means to me!
I see Habitat as that program that will help me give my kids a sense of pride and ownership in having their own home again. When I explained the details of the Habitat house to my kids and that I would have to put in ‘sweat equity’ hours, they asked how many hours they can put in. They want to help! They want to feel like this new home is truly theirs. All of us will benefit from a Habitat house. It would be a way for all of us to put down roots and not only have a house but for the first time in eight years…a home.