The Blessing of Homeownership

In the case of the Evans family, safe affordable shelter was something that was had to come by. Melissa Evans is a single mother of two who struggled financially in an environment which was neither safe nor conducive to healthy living. The future prior to the involvement of Habitat for Humanity was looking bleak, to say the least, for the Evans.

Melissa Evans was employed and made enough money to live paycheck to paycheck, providing food and shelter for her family. Unfortunately, due to her income, she was neither able to provide a healthy balanced diet for her kids, nor adequate shelter.

The apartment complex she lived in was rough. Melissa reported fights being a regular occurrence, and the grounds being untidy and unfit for her children’s play. She kept her children indoors and did nothing buts worry when they were not inside.

Melissa at one point was laid off of work for 3 months, in that time she sacrificed all of her savings in order to sustain the life that her and her family had. She claimed that during this period of trying to find a job, her greatest fear was that one of her children would get sick because she knew she could not afford the bills that come along with treatment.

Being ineligible for a loan was physically and emotionally defeating. Since the intervention of Habitat for Humanity (that is since she was approved for a Habitat loan) Melissa is now financially, physically and emotionally stable.

Homeownership can alleviate a number of stresses which come with life. It is especially a blessing to those such as Melissa who are given such an opportunity after enduring the pains and hardships of trying to raise a family without the appropriate funds.

The Benefits of Owning a Home: The Evans Family

Mark Bell

Building Hope: Benefits of Home Ownership

2/5/10

The Benefits of Owning a Home: The Evans Family

The Evans sound like a very honest, hard working, and caring family, but they have their disadvantages. With no husband or father at home Melissa certainly has a challenge in front of her to provide for her two children Trey and Emily. This family seems most deserving of a home from habitat. They are a sensible loving family who only want what’s best for each other and are willing to make sacrifices so each one can be better off. A family like this deserves help because they truly are trying to move forward in life, they work very hard and also try to stay out of trouble though it may be easy for them to do so. This family has every right to think they should own a home given to them by Habitat for Humanity.

The mental health of each member of the family was bothered severely before owning their own home. Their low income caused them to live in apartment complexes with people who were not very friendly. Both Trey and Melissa commented on this in the interview. Melissa talked about the neighbors saying, “The people who lived there were kind of rough. A lot of fights would break out between the people living there.” Trey also spoke of life in their apartment complex saying, "At one point more people moved in who were willing to get into fights with anyone and everyone." Having to deal with this kind of situation each and every day is devastating to anyone's moral, especially young children such as Trey and Emily. Having the opportunity to own a home would wipe away all of this fear they had in their apartment complexes. Being able to have a private area inside and around their house would wipe away their fear as well as give them a much needed moral boost that was not able to be obtained in their apartment.

Finances were a huge issue for the Evans family during the time when they were living in apartments. Melissa talks about how much rent was and how expensive some bills were for such a small and unsafe place to live. Melissa said it was 700 dollars a month to live in a two bedroom apartment. Melissa and her daughter had to share a room and Melissa also said the heating bills were way too high. At one point Melissa was laid off and was unable to even buy her kids food to eat for a little while, she used all of her savings during that time because having to pay rent left them with barely any money to live off. Owning a home would take away this worry of having to pay rent each month, especially owning a habitat home. With Melissa being able to pay off her mortgage on her own time this would allow to pay when she had the money to do so, thus eliminating such worry and stress about providing for her family.

I spoke of the mental health being devastated because of the lifestyle in the apartment complex earlier, but it also applies with the physical health of the Evans family as well. I quoted both Trey and Melissa earlier about how rough the neighbors were and how bad violence was in the apartments. Trey said he would get scared when their neighbors would yell at each other and Melissa mentioned how her car was stolen along with broken into twice. This is a scary thought to think that anyone of your family members could become accidentally caught up in some of this violence and become seriously injured, this is not a thought that a single mother wants in her head with two young children to look after. Owning a home would considerably destroy this fear of becoming involved in bad violence. The habitat home the Evans were given was in a much better neighborhood which eliminated this fear of violence. Melissa talked about the neighborhood in the interview saying, "The neighborhood is safer in general. I don't worry about the kids getting into trouble anytime they go outside." This sense of no more fear must feel amazing for the Evans family.

Owning a home is one the greatest things that can happen to any family, especially a family like the Evans. This opportunity has made their lifestyle so much better and has eliminated so many negatives that were in their life before. The mental health of the family was boosted beyond their wildest imagination, the fear of violence in their neighborhood was gone, and the fear of finances and not being able to pay things off was gone as well. The only thing that came out of owning a home was wonderful things for the Evans family. Their lives were improved exponentially and the Evans family deserved everything they received.

Home Sweet Home

Living in a real house is something that most people take for granted. If someone has lived in their house for their whole life it can be hard for them to see the benefits of living there rather than in an apartment. Living in a house can provide a safer environment for a family, a way of financing that has more stability, improved mental and physical health and just simply an overall healthier environment.
One of the many parts of a person’s life that can improve when someone owns their own home is their financial situation. Paying a monthly rent can be difficult especially if the rent is too high for the living space. People also can’t control things like how much heat is used; therefore they can’t control how much they pay for it. “Since the heating was shared between the two apartments we couldn’t control how much heat we got. My utilities bills were way too high for our tiny apartment. But I didn’t have any control over that.” Explained Melissa, a mother of two who used to live in an apartment but was able to get a new home through Habitat for Humanity. Not having control over how much money you make can be hard, and even dangerous. If there was an emergency, not having a financial saftey net could get dangerous. Another benefit of owning a house is that even though there is a mortage payment every month,owners actually get to profit from it. “When you pay rent, you’re giving money to the landlord and you’ll never see that money again. When you have a house, you pay back the mortgage every month, but then you eventually own the house completely.” Owning a house can give a sense of fulfillment and familis can feel like the money you are paying is not a waste.
When someone lives in an apartment with children and is not making enough money to create a financial safety net, the stress of it all can weigh down on someone, especially a single parent. Living in your own home in a relatively safe neighborhood means that the kids in the family can go outside and play without being concerned for their safety, this can lift a lot of stress on a parent. Also having a financial safety net means that if there is an emergency, or a parent looses a job then they do not have to worry about how they would pay for things like emergency room fees. When someone owns their own home they get to control things like how much heat is used, allowing them to create that financial safety net. A house generally means more space as well so children have a place to study and parents have a place to work, allowing that stress to be lifted. Without that stress parents are able to focus more on their jobs, working for promotions. A life with less stress is something that can be extremely beneficial in the long run.
General safety of the family can also be improved if someone owns their own home. Melissa’s family for example lived in an apartment complex that was not very safe. “A lot of fights would break out between people living there. Sometimes the fights would be close to our apartment.” This kind of environment is not very safe, especially for children. Living in an established and safe neighborhood can contribute a great deal towards the overall safety of the family. Living in a house in a good neighborhood means having neighbors that are trustworthy and can look after your home when you leave or can help out if there is an emergency. Kids feel more at ease to play outside, allowing them to make friends that will be good influences on them. It can also save money, if something like what happened to Melissa happens, “Mom’s car got stolen while we lived there (the apartment complex) too.” explained Melissa’s son Trey. “Not just stolen, it also got broken into twice.” added Melissa. Things like fixing or replacing cars can be extremely expensive and stressful. Living in a safe neighborhood can help in many other areas of life as well.
A family owning their own home can be extremely beneficial to the family’s lifestyle. It can provide a safe place for a family like Melissa’s to thrive and grow in a healthy manner. It can lessen stresses like financial burdens and allow the family to be happier. “I don’t think we will ever move away from here (the Habitat house). It’s hard to think of a place as a home if you are always worried that you won’t be able to afford the rent. This place feels much more like home.” Owning a house could mean creating a home, a safer, happier home.

"This place feels much more like home."

Habitat for Humanity is an organization that helps lower income families to become house owners in an affordable way. By getting a loan, committing to money management classes and hours working to construct a house they will be able to own their own house. It will bring lots of benefits for the family, just hear how it went with the Evans family when they got approved for a Habitat house:

The Evans family used to live in a small apartment in a bad neighbourhood, "The fights really bothered me because of the kids - I knew they were scared." says Melissa. Melissa heard about Habitat for Humanity in a commercial and decided it would be worth all the effort if she could become a house owner. "I applied to get a home through Habitat and after a while was approved." Melissa had to agree to take classes to learn how to manage finances better and she had to help build her own or another families house. She knew it was a lot of work too, "They don't give houses away for free - you have to work for it."
"You told us we were approved to get a house, but we were too young to understand what that meant. Over time, I understood more." tells Trey, the oldest of Melissa Evans' children. The first time Melissa brought Trey and his sister Emily to see the half build house they finally realized what was happening. "My sister and I were looking at the rooms we'd be getting." says Trey enthusiastically thinking back on one of his happiest days. Now when they live in their own house and not a rented apartment they also get to have pets and more space.
Melissa says the new neighbourhood is so much safer and Trey mentions that now they also know all the neighbours, in contrast to the apartment complex they lived in before, "We didn't make any friends there."
Melissa's life has become easier economically too: "When we lived in the apartment, we were living pay check to pay check." she tells, "Since our monthly expenses are lower, I don't have to worry so much about how we spend every single dollar." Trey mentions that Melissa seems much more relaxed after they moved, "I can see my mom was under a lot of stress back then."
The Evans' Habitat house have given both security, freedom and a feeling of a real home for them. The children have more space and therefore a better environment for studying to get an education, Melissa has less expenses because they're owing, not renting and they get to know new people in their neighbourhood. "It's a very comforting feeling."

the Benefits of Home-ownership

For many families, the jump to home-ownership can mean the difference between whether they eat dinner that night. To possess a home will vastly improve a family’s situation financially, mentally, and physically.

Financially, home-ownership provides an outstanding foundation on which to build. In the case of this family, since their mortgage was intrest free, their monthly payments were lower than that of the rent in their previous apartment. This meant more money at the end of the month. Also, there was no chance of the rate increasing, whereas the owner of their apartment complex could have increased the rent cost. Plus, because with a mortgage you are paying for goods as opposed to paying rent for a service, the payments eventually end, so you are guaranteed more capital in the future.

Mentally, the safer neighborhood provides a break from the stress of the day that would normally be perpetuated by the violence that constantly surrounded them at their apartment complex. Not only that, but from person experience,when people aquire more personal space, relations between members of the family improve dramatically. The improved neighborhood also greatly reduces the risk of harm coming to the children who live therein.

And so, in the case of the Evans family, their lives were dramatically improved in the aquiring of their home. Not only did their fiscal situation become far less bleak, but their relationships with each other and within themselves improved as well, and the danger which was ever-present in their old neighborhood is no longer an issue.