Shanae’s Family Has a Steady Home Base
April 8, 2024
For Durham resident Shanae, housing insecurity was very real after her father passed away unexpectedly when she was a child. Her mom struggled to make ends meet which sometimes meant they stayed in shelters. Once Shanae was old enough, she began working multiple jobs to help support the family, leaving her little time to focus on school. Now, Shanae is a single mother of two young children, Jaylin and Nalani. She wants to give them the sense of security and permanence she never had.
Determined to offer her kids a better life, she went back to school and now holds a steady job as a phlebotomist. But even with this steady work, Shanae was not able to qualify for a mortgage through traditional channels or save enough for a down payment. “With the way prices are going up, I couldn’t find a place for me and my kids,” she says. Shanae thought homeownership was simply going to be out of reach. But by partnering with Durham Habitat, she was able to purchase a safe, stable home for her family.
For Shanae, purchasing a Habitat home has brought a new sense of permanence, stability, and security—a steady “home base” for her children to grow and thrive. She may never have experienced all this if not for Habitat for Humanity of Durham. “We don’t have to worry any longer about finding another place,” she says with relief about her Habitat home. “It’s going to be ours forever.”
Thanks to support from donors, Shanae is a very proud homeowner. Homeownership not only provides a steady place of residence, but also a variety of other benefits that set families up for success.
Benefits of Homeownership:
- helps families rise out of poverty by building wealth
- leads to improved academic performance by children
- promotes civic and social engagement, improving communities
- improves physical and mental health, changing lives
Will you please help put other families like Shanae’s on the path to affordable home ownership? Don’t let this opportunity pass you by—make your gift today.