Ground Is Broken for Habitat Homes

After pushing a shovel into a patch of dry dirt Friday morning, Nicolas Enriquez glanced at his wife and three kids and smiled.

Enriquez had just dug in the spot where the family’s new home is scheduled to be built in the next year--a dream come true for five people living in a one-bedroom motor home.

“It’s hard living like that,” Enriquez said.

“Nobody has space.”

So Enriquez applied for a program sponsored by the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, which helps low-income families become first-time homeowners.

Within a year, Enriquez, his wife, Marlene, twin 9-year-old daughters Gennessis and Geminnis and 1-year-old daughter, Mariby, will move into a 1,300-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a small yard.

On Friday morning, a group of about 150 city officials and Habitat for Humanity volunteers celebrated the groundbreaking for 53 homes to be built on a four-acre lot on Pierce Street.

The first 10 homes are scheduled to be completed within a year and the rest within five years, said Habitat for Humanity spokeswoman Linda Chavez.

Families who have qualified to buy the homes, with a minimal down payment and a no-interest loan, all live in substandard, overcrowded conditions, officials said.

“The family only pays what it costs to build the home, $95,000 to $120,000, so their monthly payments end up being about the same as what they’re paying [in rent] where they live now,” Chavez said.

Families agree to invest “sweat equity” by helping to build their homes, assisting with framing and dry-walling under the guidance of construction experts.

“It’s very exciting,” Enriquez said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”