The Ahmanson Foundation has provided funding to Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys at the full House level to the Sylmar Habitat for Heroes Enriched Neighborhood® site. This funding will make housing affordable for a veteran family in the 12-home community in Sylmar.
One of the veterans moving into this community, built in collaboration with the California Department of Veteran Affairs, is Walter Sanchez. Walter currently lives with his wife, Yazmin and two children under the age of four in his mother’s basement. Walter is a U.S. Army veteran and served one tour in Iraq. Walter now works full time, and his wife stays home to take care of the children. He would like an opportunity to give his family a real home to live in, a dream that the Ahmanson Foundation is making a reality.
Habitat for Humanity SF/SCV calls this an “enriched” community because homeowners and their families will not only receive a home with an affordable 30-40 year mortgage, where they will pay no more than 35% of their monthly income for mortgage payments, taxes, HOA dues, and water, they will also receive transitional services to help them move into the middle class.
These services are what make up the “enrichment” part of the Habitat for Humanity SF/SCV neighborhoods. Habitat for Humanity SF/SCV works with other non-profits, local businesses and community organizations to provide services free of charge to the families 6-12 months before and up to 18 months after move in. These services include financial literacy training workshops, healthy eating/active living workshops, disaster preparedness courses, homework help for the children, and more. This neighborhood will also include services specifically designed for veterans and their families; this includes PTSD counseling, A Window Between Worlds therapeutic art programs for trauma victims, veteran peer-to-peer dialogue, domestic violence counseling, ensuring connections to benefits and more.
About Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys
Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys was founded in 1990 as an affiliate for Habitat of Humanity International. We are a locally run, independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving North Los Angeles County, building houses for low-income working families and veteran families. To date, we have built over 223 homes and are among the top 5% of Habitat affiliates nationwide to reach this goal. This is a new kind of Habitat, for a new generation.
By working with the other non-profits, government agencies, faith organizations and community groups, as well as individual donors and volunteers we are able to keep costs low. Our Habitat affiliate takes it a step further by holding the interest free loans, enabling our families to buy a home for less than what they would pay in rent. This is a dream most of these families would never be able to realize without the help of Habitat for Humanity.
Along with building homes, we also provide a mentoring program that stays in the communities for two years. It teaches like skills, money-management skills, educational training, as well as urban community gardening, while providing health services referrals. We call this our Enriched Neighborhood model. This model empowers our homeowners and their children to transform their lives and their entire community. In return, we ask our families to contribute 500 hours of sweat equity.
We are currently building two Enriched Neighborhoods for veterans and their families in collaboration with the California Department of Veteran Affairs, a 12-home community in Sylmar, CA and 87-home community in Santa Clarita, CA.