Then & Now: Christina's Story

Homeowner: December 2016

Christina has been living in and out of rentals her entire life. Growing up in the Ypsilanti area, her parents always rented and never owned a home.

In 2016, Christina purchased an affordable, energy-efficient home from Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley (HHHV) - making her the very first member of her family to purchase her own home.

At 30 years old, Christina had stopped the vicious cycle of moving in and out of apartments with her two children, Cam’ron and Chanel, who were ages 10 and 7 respectively at the time. She no longer had to worry about moving her entire family when rent jumped and forced them to move.

She remembers never knowing anything about HHHV’s Home Ownership Program. When she was growing up, one of her friends mentioned the program to her. Purchasing a Habitat home was not easy, and she made four attempts to try to enter the program, each time getting closer and closer with achieving the requirements needed to be considered. She even volunteered on construction sites before getting accepted in hopes of gaining required hours in case she was accepted.

A future for her children

“Coming up with the time to volunteer was tough – working two jobs and being a single mom of two kids,” Christina said.

However, she was proud to be setting a good example for her kids showing them that sometimes you need to work hard for what you want in life.

“They were old enough to see it and old enough to appreciate it,” she said.

Homeownership has allowed Christina to excel in the last five years. She said its given her the chance to not only save money and build stability – but it’s also given her a chance to enjoy more time with her kids.

“Owning the house for the past five years has been very rewarding,” Christina said. “It’s helped with lowering bills over all. I am able to save money, build credit, stability, continue my education and I was finally able to get off state assistance.

“It gave me the freedom to be able to spend more quality time with my kids, we have a safer, better quality of life now,” she said.

Her best memory of her experience was keeping the house move in date a secret to her kids and surprising them on Christmas Day with it. She will never forget celebrating with gifts inside each of her kids rooms’, specifically painted in their favorite colors.

She enjoys having birthday parties in the back yard for her kids and celebrating Christmas in her own home with family.

When was asked if she had any advice now for her younger self, Christina said, “I wish I would have not doubted myself so much initially and had started the process earlier.”

Christina finds comfort in knowing she is leaving a legacy and knowing she will be able to hand down her home to her kids.

“It’s one of the very best feelings,” Christina said.

Today, Christina spreads the message of her story and gives advice to friends about house repairs or helping answer questions about credit and home ownership responsibilities. She even keeps in contact with other families that have similar Habitat for Humanity experiences on a local community support Facebook group page.

Christina’s home was sponsored in 2016 by Adient.