Success Stories

A New Beginning: Repair Client Linda M.’s Journey to a Healthier Home  

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Linda M., who works in healthcare, has found herself in the important role of caregiver for both her mom and daughter in recent years. She relocated to Bellevue in 2012 to care for her mom, who was showing early signs of dementia, and she stayed to take care of her for three years. Then her daughter developed a severe health condition, and Linda had to stay home from work to care for her as well. Because of this, she lost about five years of income, so she didn’t have that much money left in savings.  

One of the main signs of wear in her home was the floors. The carpet was 40 years old and coming up in places, plus the smell from their service animals emanated throughout the space. Linda didn’t want to relocate because of the community of care she had established in her neighborhood and the health benefits it provided to her daughter. Now 25, her daughter can’t drive because of her condition, and having access to healthcare professionals, shopping, and safe walking spaces in their neighborhood is key to her health. 

“I’m 69-years-old, and I hope to stay here. I’ve been here since 2012 and I know a lot of the neighbors, and I go to church nearby,” Linda says. 

In looking for a way to replace her home’s flooring that was cost-effective, she found her way to Habitat SKKC via the City of Bellevue’s Home Repair Program. Once Habitat SKKC was brought in, the Repair Team fully replaced the carpet with vinyl plank flooring.  

“The carpet was old and worn, with lingering pet damage that went down to the subfloor. Our site staff also hauled a good amount of furniture to get access. I imagine that would have been quite a physical burden for Linda if she had to coordinate on her own,” explains Repair Program Manager Mae Amorin. 

Now that the project is complete, Linda and her daughter are enjoying their improved quality of life. 

Linda explains of the home improvement, “The work they did was so meticulous and amazing. It’s much easier to keep clean, and we can take pride in keeping it clean. It’s like a whole new life for us.” 

Habitat Repairs Are Keeping Colleen Stern at Home

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“They came out in the freezing cold to work on my house,” says Colleen Stern of the Habitat repairs crew. “And most of them were women!” 

Colleen, who is a wood carver herself, was delighted to hear young people outside her door wielding power saws and sledgehammers as they tore down and rebuilt her back steps.  “They made it possible for me to stay in my home,” she says with tearful gratitude in her voice.   

Colleen spent 35 years working as a caregiver for hundreds of clients. “I worked with people in hospice, too,” she adds with pride. During that 35-year career, Colleen raised a son with mental health challenges and created an animal sanctuary in the back yard of her Federal Way manufactured home.  But several spinal injuries she sustained in her work ultimately left her with severe pain and unable to walk without a walker or one of her personally carved walking sticks. She couldn’t return to work, and, in fact, found herself in need of her own caregiver.  

Procore

With very little income and living on her own, the natural deterioration on her 1966 vintage home got serious. After one emergency fall, paramedics had to break down the back door to reach Colleen and it remained broken. The back steps she’d built herself long ago were decaying and weren’t level with the door making them dangerous for her to navigate.  The front porch was rotted through, and her back yard wildlife refuge had become overgrown prohibiting her from tending to her beloved squirrels, raccoons, birds, and rabbits.  She simply could not afford the repairs on her fixed income. 

Shortly after she applied for Habitat help, the repairs crew swooped in “like a pile of carpenter ants,” and “did a fantastic job on all the work.” Colleen has always been a hard worker, and she knew how to make all the repairs, but she was no longer physically able to do them herself.  “So, I cooked for the crew,” she says noting with pride that her sourdough pizzas and vegan enchiladas were a big hit. 

With partial funding from a $10,000 AARP grant, the Habitat crew not only fixed Colleen’s stairs in the front and back of her home, but they also cleared a pathway to her animal sanctuary and added grab bars in the bathroom along with a new higher toilet to accommodate her changing needs. And they added fencing around the stairs for safety. 

Colleen’s was one of two Habitat homes that qualified for help from the AARP grant which focused on home modification and assistance to enhance safety for adult homeowners over age 50, allowing them to age in place.  “So now I can walk right up to the door without tripping over,” says Colleen.  “They fixed the door and gave me a lever style handle so I can open the door without falling off the porch.  I couldn’t do that before. They were just so kind.”

If you know anyone in need of critical home repairs, please reach out to us here: Home Repairs – Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties

Habitat SKKC Supports Legacy Communities with Repairs and More

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Residents of Habitat for Humanity SKKC’s Walker Townhomes community were ecstatic to see Habitat volunteers arrive to help them with their repairs work party June 1st.  The community, finished in 1997, has been managed by a self-governing Homeowners Association (HOA) since the first Habitat homeowners moved in 28 years ago. The volunteer work party that arrived to help Walker Townhome residents is part of a pilot program Habitat initiated this year as part of its Community Associations group. 

Led by Community Associations Program Manager, Karissa Johnson, the pilot program is aimed at helping to ensure that Habitat’s Legacy Communities (those that pre-date Habitat’s land trust/ground lease, are in HOA’s and are more than 10 years old) continue to grow, thrive and become lasting permanently affordable housing for generations to come. As Karissa says, “The lessons learned can be readily applied to Habitat’s new builds allowing those communities to benefit from the wisdom of those who came before to make them even more successful from the start.”

Twelve HOA communities, totaling about 190 homes qualify as Legacy communities.  With housing and insurance costs rising dramatically, many HOA’s are short of funding to keep their properties appropriately maintained, a problem that restricts mortgage funding options. Habitat’s pilot program for Legacy communities is designed to support Habitat’s HOA’s in meeting the requirements for lenders to approve standard mortgages when homes are up for resale. In its pilot, Habitat joined forces with the Walker Townhomes HOA to conduct property repairs the HOA didn’t have the resources to cover or complete.

The program’s approach is comprehensive and specific at once. Each community or individual homeowner in the program will receive help tailored to their status.  For example, one property received deck repairs under forgivable liens, one has been plugged into the PSE retrofit grants for lighting, another is getting a free exterior inspection, and a community meeting to better educate everyone about their HOA so they may become more involved with their Board. 

The Legacy Communities program is aligned with Habitat SKKC’s current emphasis on building communities. At the Walker Townhomes work party, brand-new owner, Logan, who had lived there for fewer than 48 hours, came out to meet his neighbors and help. He joined Mr. Nguyen, an original owner, who brought out his photo album with hundreds of pictures of his neighbors working together to build their units with Habitat back in the late 90s. 

Program Manager Karissa has big plans, “I hope, in the long-term, that the program will bring our Legacy properties into Habitat’s permanently affordable housing portfolio, increase our relationship with our owners and the greater community, as well as impact decisions we make in new builds.” Eventually, the Legacy Communities program can enrich the long-standing HOA’s and ensure the HOA’s for new projects are strong, funded, supported and educated to be the best possible community experience for our partner families and every generation to come. 

For More information on Legacy Communities, please contact Karissa Johnson at Karissa.johnson@habitatskc.org. 

Habitat SKKC Completes First Phase of Yarrow Cottages 

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On June 15, four hard-working families got keys to their forever homes in Habitat for Humanity SKKC’s Yarrow Cottages community in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood. The air was electric with excitement at the Phase 1 Dedication Ceremony as Rachel Campbell, Habitat’s Retention and Closing specialist, and Blanca Olivera, Senior Program Manager, presented Certificates of Completion to the new homeowners.  

New homeowner Samantha Morales captured the sentiment when King 5 TV asked her how it felt to have her own home: “It’s so cool learning all these life skills, let alone that I get my forever home.  I get to have stability. And I get to have this awesome generational wealth that is going to be in my family forever.” 

These four families each put in over 150 hours of sweat equity to build their homes, and they attended Habitat courses in home maintenance and budget management. Yarrow Cottages will eventually provide homes to 22 more families who will participate in the same process. 

Habitat CEO Brett D’Antonio welcomed Habitat Board members, Washington Department of Commerce Homeownership Division Managing Director, Ann Campbell, and Maria Ramirez and Martha Guerrero from the Duwamish Valley Affordable Housing Coalition, to share in the festivities and amplify their support for Habitat’s mission of creating safe, affordable housing for everyone. Brett noted that construction costs went up 31% since the start of the Yarrow Cottages project.  Permitting fees increased 150%.  

“Despite those challenges,” he added, “we continue to respond to the current real estate environment with innovative housing solutions that reduce barriers and expand smart-density options.”  In fact, Habitat for Humanity SKKC earned Habitat International’s “Best Innovate Design” award for its rigorous approach to addressing housing equity issues.

Following the blessing of the homes by Rev. Ravon Johnson, dedication attendees toured the Yarrow Cottages homes, which are built with green materials and energy-saving appliances, and have access to parks, schools, and public transportation.

If you know someone who would benefit from a Habitat home, please email apply@habitatskc.org or call 206-86607615.