Blog Articles

Foundations for Hope: Paige V.

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Rooted in generations of community in Ellensburg, Habitat homeowner Paige V. brings that same spirit to helping others find a place to belong. Born and raised in Ellensburg, Paige is a fourth-generation resident. Her whole family lives in Ellensburg and has for a long time. Her husband is from the Tri Cities, but he moved to Ellensburg when he was in high school. He attended Kittitas High School while Paige went to Ellensburg High School. They first met at a party in high school, and after not talking for a couple of years, they reconnected when they were in their 20s.

Paige works for a social services non-profit that connects people to affordable housing. The couple has three children: 12-year-old Jace, eight-year-old Haley, and a three-year-old. Their whole family enjoys spending time in nature. Ellensburg has desert land on one side and hills on the other. They go up in the hills for hikes or to swim in the creek in the summer. 

When a Habitat flyer was sent to her office, Paige’s boss suggested she apply. Paige and her husband had been talking about buying a home for a while and felt ready for the next step. At the time, Paige was living in affordable housing provided by the local Housing Authority, where she had started working after completing her degree. Her husband worked in landscaping, and although their income exceeded the usual limits, they were allowed to stay in a unit with a set rent.  

Still, Paige knew it was time to invest in a permanent home: “That housing is meant for people that need it, and we were ready to own and move on.” 

The application and construction process took nearly two years. Despite the wait, Paige remained committed. She and her husband spent a year working on the interior of their home, laying flooring and learning construction skills in the process. The experience was demanding but rewarding. Through it, Paige bonded with others in the community and gained a deeper appreciation for the effort that goes into building a home. 

Moving in was a surreal moment. They received their keys at the end of May 2024 and began settling in immediately. Paige especially appreciates the single-story layout—no more stairs—and the convenience of being able to walk to work. Her new home has brought simple joys, like having a laundry room where she can stash any clutter and shut the door. Trails and open fields nearby are perfect for evening walks with their dog. 

Now, over a year since moving in, Paige feels truly at home. She hung pictures on the walls, filled the space with new furniture, and made it her own. The experience of building and envisioning the home over the past year helped her feel connected to it from the start.

Reflecting on the journey, Paige believes the effort was absolutely worth it. “When I think about if we were to buy a home on our own, we would have struggled. And the community working together on building your home is really special.” 

Paige and her family have found a sense of belonging and stability in their new Habitat home. Her daughter Haley’s best friend also lives in a Habitat home. She’s the daughter of Kara, whom Paige has known since high school. When a spot opened in their development, Paige encouraged Kara to apply. Kara, who works at a daycare, was already familiar with the Habitat process thanks to Paige, and she successfully secured a home. Now, their daughters attend the same school and are inseparable. 

Paige not only urged Kara to apply but shares Habitat SKKC as a resource with the clients she works with at the Housing Authority: “I encourage people to look at it. There are a lot of families who are getting to that income, and I tell them to check out Habitat because I would like to see that for them too.”

Building Hope Abroad: 2025 Global Village Trip

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While our main region of impact is King and Kittitas Counties, occasionally Habitat staff and volunteers have an opportunity to take their efforts to build abundant affordable housing to far flung destinations through Global Village. The weeklong international volunteer experience happens across five continents and emphasizes collaboration with the local communities. A total of 16 individuals from Habitat SKKC participated in this year’s Global Village, including 14 volunteers and two staff members who served as team leaders. This was our affiliate’s first Global Village trip since we visited Nicaragua in 2018. 

For Global Village 2025, the team worked on a home in Siguatepeque, Honduras. The homeowner, Erika, owned the land and applied to Habitat Honduras, where she was approved for their homebuilding program. The group shoveled dirt from the foundation, assisted masons with brick laying, and tied rebar forms that were later set for the house’s walls. During the trip, a Habitat Honduras Board Member volunteered alongside the group, and Erika joined for one day to work on her future home. 

Team highlights happened on and off the build site. The team maintained a positive attitude throughout the physically demanding task of shoveling dirt and successfully completed the foundational dirt work by the end of the build week. They also had the opportunity to speak with Martha Robleda, the Executive Director of Habitat Honduras, to learn more about the organization’s work in the region. 

Away from the build site, the group toured historical landmarks in the town of Comayagua, gaining insight into the area’s rich history and culture. They also participated in a cacao factory tour at the chocolatier Atucun, where the owner explained the process from cacao bean to chocolate bar as the group sampled a variety of chocolates. Midweek, they visited a local pottery maker who demonstrated her craft and allowed some team members to try shaping clay on a manual pottery wheel. 

Throughout the week, the team enjoyed regional dishes such as anafre (a bean and cheese dip), baleadas (meat, cheese, and avocado served a on corn tortilla), fresh plantains, and a variety of fresh-squeezed juices. 

Habitat SKKC Volunteer Program Manager Caroline Keck facilitated evening group conversations, where participants reflected on their impact on the local community—and the local community’s impact on them. At one night’s reflection session, volunteer Janet D. praised Honduras, noting that the country’s “superpower is their people.” She appreciated the local community’s warmth and friendliness, and their supportiveness of Habitat’s work in the region. 

Homeowner Erika is a devoted mother to her 7-year-old daughter, Ashley. She currently rents a home for approximately $153 (4019, in Lempira, the local currency) per month and lives with her mother, Juana Esperanza, who generously donated the land for Erika’s new house. Erika’s greatest dream is to provide a stable home for her daughter—Habitat SKKC staff and volunteers were humbled and honored to help her work to achieve this dream. 

Interested in volunteering? Learn more about Global Village here. 

Opening Doors: Maria and Enrique S.’s Repair Story

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Repair clients Maria and Enrique are two of the beneficiaries of this year’s Rampathon, a partnership with Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. Through the program, Master Builders donates $5,000 in materials, and Habitat SKKC donates labor to build or repair ADA ramps across King County.

The couple, their two adult children, and Enrique’s sister live in a quiet cul-de-sac in Kent where neighbors look out for each other. Maria and Enrique left their home country of the Philippines more than a quarter of a century ago and haven’t returned in 20 years. One thing they don’t miss about the Philippines is the heat and humidity; the cooler climate is their favorite part about living in the Pacific Northwest. 

Maria works for an insurance company. After the pandemic, staff were offered the opportunity to work from home, and it suited her lifestyle well. Enrique is disabled and working from home gives Maria the time and flexibility to care for him throughout the day. She works the early shift and finishes work in the afternoon, which makes it easier to take Enrique to the doctor, physical therapy, and other appointments. One day while running an errand at a wheelchair accessories store in Renton, Maria saw a promotional flyer for Rampathon and decided to apply. 

Because Enrique is mostly housebound, ensuring they live in a safe and accessible space is of the utmost importance, which is why finding out they were to be recipients of a new ramp for Enrique’s wheelchair was so meaningful. “I know you get so many applications. I really am one of the fortunate, the blessed that got picked,” Maria adds. 

The project initially focused only on the front entrance, where Habitat SKKC’s Repair Team removed the makeshift ramp Maria and her neighbor had installed and put in a new, wider ramp. Maria was pleasantly surprised to find out that work could extend to the backdoor, where Enrique hadn’t been able to access the patio since needing a wheelchair. 

“He used to plant roses in the backyard, so he missed that,” Maria explains. Now, with the new ramp installed, Enrique once again has better access to their backyard and the peace that comes with spending time outside. 

With improved access to their home, the couple has an improved outlook on their “forever home.”  

Maria says, “It’s a sanctuary. I’m very proud this is what people see. I mean, it’s not only a place to sleep in or whatnot. This is where we’re going to grow old.” 

Foundations for Hope: Alexandra R

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Alexandra grew up in Shelton, Washington, a small town near Olympia, before meeting her wife Lan and moving to Seattle. When they lived in Seattle, it was in a small one-bedroom apartment. While they loved living in the Fremont neighborhood, the apartment was so tiny that it was difficult to make it feel like their own.

After a few years, the young couple moved back to Shelton to save money and be closer to Alexandra’s family for a while. While it was important for her to be near family, Alexandra missed living in Seattle and hanging out with friends at her old place, and Lan still commuted multiple hours every day for her job in Seattle as a structural engineer. Thanks to Habitat SKKC, they have recently moved back to Seattle as first-time homeowners. 

“When we moved to Shelton, it was nice to live near my family. But it wasn’t really our own space. I’m really excited to live in a home where it can be our own for the first time,” Alexandra explains. 

Alexandra was born in Alaska, and she goes back there every summer to visit her dad’s side of the family and to fish. There, she spends time in Cordova and Bristol Bay taking in the beauty of the surroundings, including the glaciers that dot the landscape. Alexandra’s family business is fishing, and she is a third-generation fisher. Her grandparents, aunt and dad, and now Alexandra all fish for salmon, primarily Sockeye. They build and live in cabins on the beach and fish when the tide comes in. Returning to Alaska every summer keeps her connected to her family there, and she gets to continue an important family tradition. 

Back in Seattle, Alexandra loves the vibrant arts community. She especially likes that the city has many small businesses and that it’s known for the bookstores that have different themes. There’s something to do all the time, including new restaurants popping up every week. “Lan and I are huge foodies, so we’ll go to a new restaurant every week,” she adds. 

In addition to working as a seasonal fisher, Alexandra is in graduate school studying public health. Before she started her graduate program, she volunteered a lot in sexual and domestic violence advocacy, and so she wanted to get back into that field. Once she graduates, she’ll likely have to give up her summers fishing in Alaska to focus on full-time work, but she is ready for the change so she can commit to her new career. 

When not in school, art lover Alexandra goes to the movies with Lan and takes screenwriting and drawing classes on the side. Her latest crafting interest is clay-making. She already plans to check out the pottery studios in Seattle once she’s settled into her new home. 

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Alexandra and Lan found out about Habitat’s homeownership program through some of Lan’s friends, whose family members have gone through the program and recommended it. Alexandra adds, “When we were visiting our friends, we saw Yarrow Cottages right across the street. And then they said, ‘Our parents went through that program, and they loved it, and it helped them so much.’” 

This word-of-mouth recommendation led them to apply to the program, and now they call Yarrow Cottages home. Alexandra found the homebuying process to be easy, particularly due to the helpfulness of the Habitat SKKC staff: “I have some health problems where I can’t be outside in the sun as much, so they’ve helped me find volunteer opportunities working in the store.” 

Alexandra volunteered at multiple Habitat Stores sorting and cleaning, interacting with the different volunteers, and organizing the shelves. Besides volunteering with Habitat, another key piece of the homebuying process is taking the homeowner classes available through Habitat. Alexandra explains, “They went over the buying process and helping with financials. There were also some that focused on if things break down in your house, how you can fix it. And they’ve all been free, which has been awesome.” 

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Now moved into their new home, the couple looks forward to spending more time together, going on more dates, and hosting dinners and movie nights with friends. Alexandra also looks forward to feeling more connected to different communities in the city, particularly the art community.  

Alexandra is most excited about her new kitchen and living room: “It’s huge compared to our last place. And we’re friend-oriented, found family-oriented. Building it so that we have a space to all be together is wonderful.”

To make their new place feel like a home, they picked up a few items from the Habitat Store to decorate, and Alexandra’s dad, a woodworker, is building a few pieces as well. They’re putting up pictures from the different weddings they have been to for their friends, and other photographs to document their many travels together. Alexandra wants to include sentimental objects from the past while setting up her home so that they can make new memories there. 

Partnership Spotlight: A Regional Coalition for Housing

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Habitat for Humanity SKKC recently acquired two condos from A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH), an organization focused on preserving affordable housing on the Eastside. ARCH is a network of King County and 15 cities in the East King County region, functioning much like Seattle’s Office of Housing, that plays a dual role: ARCH oversees the implementation of city-level housing programs and policies and supports cities in pooling their resources to invest in affordable housing. Habitat SKKC has been one of ARCH’s partners in this mission.

Beyond investments, ARCH also assists cities in crafting and implementing policies around affordable housing, including inclusionary zoning and incentive programs like Multi-Family Tax Exemption (MFTE). Once these policies are adopted, ARCH takes on the responsibility of stewardship to ensure long-term affordability and compliance for both rental and ownership housing. 

Currently, ARCH stewards over 800 homes across Eastside cities and unincorporated King County. These homes are governed by affordability covenants that remain with the property. Many of these homes enter ARCH’s portfolio through inclusionary zoning requirements. For example, if a developer in Redmond builds 10 units, one might be designated as resale-restricted. ARCH then manages the pricing, marketing, and resale of that home, ensuring affordability is preserved over time, mush like Habitat SKKC’s land trust model. 

Unlike Habitat SKKC, ARCH doesn’t have the capacity to offer wraparound services to homeowners due to limited staffing and high volume. This constraint has led to creative partnerships. Recently, ARCH worked with Habitat SKKC and the City of Issaquah to prevent foreclosure on two homes. 

One home needed minor rehabilitation, which ARCH couldn’t fund. Habitat SKKC stepped in, with the City of Issaquah contributing resources for the rehab. The home was then transferred to Habitat SKKC’s portfolio, lowering its affordability threshold from 100% to 80% of the area median income. The second case involved a homeowner trying to sell a condo to avoid foreclosure. Despite receiving offers, buyers couldn’t secure financing due to the building’s lack of Fannie Mae approval. Habitat SKKC’s reputation and ability to secure financing allowed them to purchase the home and prepare it for a new buyer, thus preserving its affordability. 

ARCH’s aim is to build more affordable housing faster in East King County, with an eye towards inclusivity. This means focusing on making high-opportunity communities with access to great jobs, resources, parks, and schools more welcoming spaces for moderate- and low-income residents. 

ARCH was founded with a commitment to community, and that was cemented through a Community Advisory Board that has been around since the beginning. As their work has evolved, their team has also been thinking beyond the singular Board. They are currently meeting with 18 different community-based organizations to develop a more comprehensive engagement strategy that includes partnership with community-based organizations who can serve as “accountability coaches” to make sure that ARCH is doing right by the community. Their goal is to build a network of community-based organizations that are in a mutually beneficial partnership with ARCH. 

Habitat SKKC’s collaborations with ARCH focus on developing affordable homeownership opportunities that align with Habitat’s mission and ARCH’s investment strategy. ARCH’s values align well with our own and make for a partnership that benefits the whole community.