PLATFORM : It’s Security

I had been renting a two-bedroom, subsidized apartment for $330 a month. The house initially cost $49,000, but with the $10,000 subsidy, I got it for $39,000 with a $5,000 downpayment I scraped together from my savings and from loans from my family. Everybody chipped in and helped.

I would never have been able to own a house at that time without the Nehemiah grant. I am a single parent. I was making about $23,000 (annually) at the time. I had looked into home ownership but there was no way with my salary and the large down payments.

Having the house has meant security. It’s affordable and it’s a nice surrounding. Where I lived before wasn’t nice in terms of crime and dark stairwells. It’s made life much better when you are trying to raise sons in the big city with drugs and crime and all those things. Life is much better. The streets are nice. It’s an area where people care about their houses and that makes it a better environment.