The Rivera Family is one step closer to homeownership thanks to Farmers District 56. Farmers District 56 has provided funding at the Family Sponsor level to Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys (SF/SCV) to make homeownership a possibility for 12 veteran families in Sylmar, CA.
One of the veterans approved for the Enriched Neighborhood® home, built in collaboration with the California Department of Veteran Affairs, is Walter Rivera. He, his wife, Maria, and 3 children are excited to move from their small apartment to a four-bedroom/3 bath home in a neighborhood specifically designed for veterans and their families.
Before this opportunity, homeownership did not seem like a possibility for Walter who is 100% disabled and cannot work. After serving 15 years in the United States Army, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Walter returned home, unable to work—making it difficult to provide for his family. He suffers from a Traumatic Brain Injury, a result of an IED bomb explosion. He does spend time volunteering as a coach for his two sons’ High School ROTC program.
Walter and the 11 additional families moving into the Sylmar Habitat for Heroes Enriched Neighborhood® 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 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 more than 220 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, a 12-home community in Sylmar, CA and 87-home community in Santa Clarita, CA.