A Dozen Reasons to Feel Right at Home

What a difference more space makes.

The 12 members of the Martinez family used to share one bathroom and two bedrooms in a cramped apartment. Now, they have a five-bedroom home with two bathrooms, a front yard, even a dog.

The family’s dream home was made possible by the nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity, which selected them as the owners of the new house on Flower Avenue.

“It’s awesome,” Mary Martinez said Sunday of the new beige stucco structure. “Do you know what it was like to share one bathroom with 10 children?”

City officials, volunteers and organizers of the project dedicated the home Sunday, officially welcoming the family. They and the volunteers began work in April, with the Martinez family alone putting in more than 1,000 hours. They moved in last month.

Their home, which cost $71,000 to build, is the 10th that Habitat for Humanity has constructed in Brea, said Caris Lester, president of the national organization’s Orange County chapter.

Since 1988, when the chapter was founded, it has built 63 homes across the county, Lester said. All of the work is done by volunteers, with materials paid for by individual, corporate and private donations.

To be environmentally sensitive as well as save money on heating and cooling costs, architect Pat Austin designed the Martinez house with steel instead of wooden beams. Also, the roof is made of steel pounded to look like tile.

“We are trying to use different technologies to replace wood and preserve our natural resources,” Austin said.

Eligible families must earn 50% or less of the median income, which in Orange County is $26,000 for a family of four.

The Martinez family made a 1% down payment on the home and will be responsible for all utility bills in addition to monthly mortgage payments over 20 years, organizers said.

As a mechanic, Raul Martinez said, he would not have been able to afford such a home for his family.

“In our other house it was very hard,” he said. “We didn’t have much room.”

The Martinez children, who range in age from 17 to 1 1/2 years, have wasted no time making the house their own. The skateboards, in-line skates and bicycles are already lined along the wall in the back yard.

Inside, the parents have hung photos of the children to fill an entire wall above the stairs, and notes stuck to the refrigerator tell of upcoming PTA meetings and soccer matches.

That is a sharp contrast with their old apartment on Brea Boulevard, where there was no front yard and the alley out back was not safe for children.

“At my old house, there were all these gangs, and I was afraid they were going to shoot through my window,” 11-year-old Manuel Martinez said. “I like it here. It’s way better.”