As a recent immigrant, one of Gonzalo G.’s biggest challenges was finding housing. He arrived with an amount of money that he thought was going to be enough to start looking for an apartment and then find work. What he didn’t expect was that a lot of landlords won’t rent to you if you don’t have a credit history, even if you have the money or and a job.
“When I moved here, I had no credit record or a job. My first option was renting from Airbnb, and that’s super expensive. Housing in Seattle is expensive, but if you rent an Airbnb, it’s more expensive than that. Then I found a friend who needed a roommate, so I went to that house, and for a long time I was living there, but the idea was that I was going to be there for one or two months. That was an agreement, but that extended as I was not able to find an apartment because of this credit problem,” he says of his housing journey.
He found a temporary solution in a building near the University of Washington that houses international students who also don’t have a credit history. He moved into and still lives in a room there with a private bathroom and access to a shared kitchen. His current living situation is challenging in many ways. There are Airbnb rooms within the building, which means many guests moving in and out of the space and not respecting the rules around quiet hours or kitchen cleanliness. His bicycle was stolen from the building’s garage. He is also forced to eat out more due to the lack of a reliable cooking space. These factors all added up and sent Gonzalo in search of a more stable housing option.
Before beginning his homebuying journey with Habitat SKKC, Gonzalo was a frequent visitor to Seattle from Mexico. He was taken by the breadth of outdoor activities, from mountain biking to paragliding, kayaking to swimming. He spends much of his free time playing soccer at Cal Anderson Park. The access to the outdoors was a new experience after spending much of his adulthood in the bustling metropolis of Mexico City.
“It’s a huge city with a lot of restaurants and museums, but we don’t have a lot of nature. There was something here that I wanted: a city with a lot of outdoor activities and no traffic, no pollution. Yes, I know people from Seattle complain about traffic, but trust me, this is nothing like the traffic in Mexico City,” he muses.
Mountain biking has quickly become his favorite new activity in nature, but in the city proper, Gonzalo enjoys going to music shows. He says, “Seattle is one of the best spots for music. It’s part of the history that the grunge culture started here. That’s something that I have always been interested in. I’m a musician, and I probably go to six shows per month here.”
Luckily for Gonzalo, he’ll move into his new home in Capitol Hill, a neighborhood known for its nightlife and plenty of options for hearing live music. When he moves into his new one-bedroom condo, he’ll bring along plenty of instruments: He plays guitar, bass, ukulele, drums, and his favorite, saxophone.
Gonzalo currently works remotely as a logistics coordinator for a company based in England. Prior to immigrating, he worked for many years in Mexico’s government, starting as a software developer before moving into a management position. Despite his impressive resume, Gonzalo faced many barriers to work as an immigrant.
“It’s really challenging to get a first job when you’re a new immigrant. That happened to a lot of my friends that hadn’t arrived with a job already. I think a lot of companies think that you’re not legally here and that you’re going to ask them to do that procedure for you, or that you’re going to give them fake documents or they’re not going to take the risk on you not being prepared with the language. I guess that a lot of companies are scared to take this first step of hiring someone, and I really appreciate that this company did it with me,” he explains.
After experiencing firsthand the challenges of life as a recent immigrant, Gonzalo began volunteering at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project to help others who are going through a similar experience. He started volunteering because one of his friends works there, and she told him that sometimes they have trouble finding people who can interpret Spanish. By serving as a volunteer translator, Gonzalo can accompany people being aided by the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project as they meet with schools, lawyers, and medical professionals. He has enjoyed the work and getting to know people from many different countries.
In addition to work and volunteering, Gonzalo is in the middle of a master’s program studying artificial intelligence. He has a year to go and a thesis to write, but he feels he must move fast to keep up with the pace of AI’s development. He plans to explore job opportunities in the field once he completes his degree, but for now he’s happy to study it while balancing the rest of the demands of his busy life.
When he learned about Habitat for Humanity from a friend, Gonzalo saw that he needed to have worked at his current job for a year, so he turned down another offer in order to meet this requirement. He was determined to make the process work and make his dream of homeownership a reality. He has enjoyed every part of the homebuying process with Habitat SKKC, including volunteering at the Bellevue Store, where he has learned a lot about furniture materials and assembly and has fun interacting with staff and other volunteers.
Prior to moving into his Habitat home, Gonzalo lamented how everyone in Seattle, including him, moved so much. He had met a lot of people who became friends, but then they moved to New York or went back to Mexico. He adds, “Seattle is a city experiencing a lot of change, and so am I. I think having my own place is going to make me feel like, finally, Seattle is my home.”