Habitat Homeowner

In the summer of 2024, Gretchen was caught off guard when her best friend, Mica, suddenly asked, “Hey, what’s your gross income? How long have you lived in Wake County?”

Gretchen laughed, unsure what was happening. “I was like, I have no idea what you’re doing—but here you go.”

What Gretchen didn’t realize at the time was that Mica was filling out a Habitat for Humanity of Wake County application on her behalf.

Tynisha has five months left to reach her goal for this year: get her two daughters into their Habitat Wake home by Christmas. If there’s one word that captures her spirit, it’s dedication.

“I applied to Habitat Wake two years ago and I got denied. My feelings were hurt at first, but I decided to keep trying and do what I needed to do,” she recalls. “They told me my income wasn’t high enough. But I couldn’t let this idea go. I’d always had it in my head that I would get my daughters into a home.”

“First, I tried my luck with a traditional mortgage,” Rosemeri recalled. “And this was right about the time that COVID hit, so it was a nightmare for families who were trying to buy a home. People who had more money were offering $50k to $75k over the asking price. They were buying homes without even viewing them. I stood no chance.”

But Rosemeri refused to give up. The dream of homeownership had been an unwavering goal for many years, and behind it all was a powerful motivator: her children.

“My apartment had gotten too small for us,” Kandy said. “So I was like, well, what could be next? I’m a kitchen supervisor at a restaurant, and things were going good. I felt like I was ready to buy something. I was just in the right spot.”

Kandy and her children were ready for a change. Imagine trying to squeeze four kids (including a set of energetic twin boys) into a small apartment. Space was tight, and it was time to dream bigger.

In 2023, Michelle Hester’s mom called her. She’d seen Habitat Wake's Old Poole neighborhood on the news, and it was only a few miles down the road from them. That night, she and Michelle drove through what was just the beginning of a neighborhood. On that drive, Michelle thought to herself, “This feels like something I could do.”

As a Residential Nurse Aid, mother and grandmother, Shawn is no stranger to hard work. But navigating Raleigh’s housing market as a single woman brought challenges she never expected.

When asked about the biggest obstacle she faced in her search for a home, Shawn didn’t hesitate: “Affordability.”

For Sharon Watson, the past year has been a battle for stability. A mother, grandmother, and dedicated employee at the Department of Health and Human Services, she has spent much of her time navigating the stress of housing insecurity. Now, as she nears the completion of Habitat’s rigorous homeownership program, she reflects on how this journey has been deeply tied to her health and how having a stable home will transform her future.

For more than two decades, Jacques and Dinah carried the dream of home -- a place of safety, stability, and belonging. But that dream was far from easy to reach. Their journey began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.