Jessica is a single mom of 7-year-old daughter Baileigh. The two currently share a bedroom that Jessica rents from her mom, but with five people currently living in the two-bedroom home, space is extremely limited and they are in need of a long-term solution.

Jessica works at Vista Manufacturing, where she has been for the last seven years. She learned about the Habitat Homeownership Program from a coworker who became a homeowner through Habitat several years ago. When she learned she qualified for the program and would be able to get an interest-free mortgage, she said she felt “shocked, excited, and happy.” She was so overwhelmed by the idea that a single mom would be able to become a homeowner on her own and said this will make her feel like she is “doing something right” for her daughter.

Jessica likes that she will be able to “use (her) own hands and that the community really comes together” to build the house and work toward an affordable mortgage, which to her will mean “less stress and being able to save for vacations to take my daughter on to experience different things, so she has more life tools to figure out what she wants to do with her life when she is older.”

By going through Habitat’s Homeownership Program, Jessica has learned there is a lot more to being a homeowner than she thought, but that the program broke it down in a way to make it all manageable. She said the things she has learned will help her keep up the maintenance of her home and help make it last a lifetime.

Jessica's advice to new homeowners or those who are considering joining the program: “It’s OK to cry and feel defeated, but you have to get back up and try again.” Now, she’s excited to start building her home and use it as a step to improve her family relationships.