Late this summer, we participated in the Habitat Minnesota Homeowner Impact Study Pilot Survey. The statements below are from the respondents describing the impact Habitat homeownership has had on the life of their families.
Our lives are so much better. My children have allergies and they use much less medications. My oldest daughter also has asthma and she has not had to use her inhaler since we moved in.
My children are happy to make friends and bring them home to meet the family. Before we were so cramped in an apartment, they were embarrassed to bring friends over. They are now proud to call our Habitat Home ..."Home."
The kids love the neighborhood and are able to ride their bikes. They are doing wonderfully in school. I have also gone back to school (while working) and earned an Associate's degree.
Before we qualified for our home my family lived in an apartment complex that was very unsafe.... Since we moved we are safe, my home is handicap accessible, and we are part of a beautiful family. We are now happy, grateful, and feel very blessed by God. We are proud to be a part of the Habitat for Humanity family!
Everyone deserves a good and safe place to live. To that end, we have begun sponsoring a child from another country and October will mark one year of sponsorship for us.
If we wouldn't have gotten our home, I wouldn't have been able to go back to school and get a better job. I have been able to put money away for my kids' education. I have been able to better our credit score because bills can be paid on time.
I am a business owner now. Having an affordable mortgage allowed me to achieve that goal. Lower bills allowed me to be able to go back to school and raise kids without having to work 40+ hour/wk. This helped me maintain a relationship with and be a good parent to my children and achieve what I needed to do to better our lives....
My family has been very blessed to have been able to have lived in our house for over 8 years, and we have loved every minute of it. My parents, my church family as well as my children put so many hours into this house building it. Not only with this muscle, but also with the love that everyone had for us and we had for each other. This house is so special to me as well as my family.
It really helped our family because we always had to move from apartment to apartment or from house to house. It gave our family a place to call home and strengthened our family.
We have satisfied our mortgage - that's HUGE in this economy!!! I have a lot I could say - this is a GREAT program for someone whose goal is owning their own home and is willing to work really hard for this worthwhile goal.
Habitat allowed me the chance to be better. A better person, able to manage money and time better, which in turn gave me more time to be a better parent. I have become a part of the community by being involved in the program and helping others.
Being a homeowner makes us feel more a partner in the community. It makes us feel safe and secure like we belong here. Our house has become a home and is such a blessing.
The security of having a permanent home has helped a lot. Moving from rentals and not being in one neighborhood or school made having long term friends hard for the girls. Now we are a part of a neighborhood and it's much more stable for the girls and I. Since being here, we've started giving back by donating time to Special Olympics, volunteering at school, Key Club, and joining Upward Bound. The girls are planning for college and really working at their grades.
I feel my family is more "normal" as we have a house - something we can take pride in, call our own. My daughter with asthma has been able to get off one of her meds as she is doing much better since there is no mold everywhere. We can have people/friends at the house; the old apartment was too small for just us. Here we have room to make and have a real table for supper. We can have pets, etc. It is "Home."
Putting all the time and energy building my home has given me so much knowledge, strength, and confidence. I absolutely love my home and feel it's the best looking house/yard on the block. I have such pride in all the hard work my son and I put into our place!
Having a home has given me and my children a stable life by providing an opportunity to stay in one place and become part of the community and have friends in it, and that does a lot for self esteem that has positive effects on all aspects of our life.
Becoming a Habitat partner family has completely changed my life by giving me an important goal to work towards. It has given me an investment for the future of my children. Because I found I have so much more to live for, I have since quit smoking, began a healthier lifestyle, and am planning to earn a Bachelor's Degree.
All I can say is that we now have hope and for that we are a grateful family.
