NOAHH’s homeownership program is built on partnerships with the hard working families who apply for a new home. The process requires our homeowners to choose the lot they wish to live on, which is taken into account along with their family size to determine what floor plan is used, and during the partnership process, they customize certain aspects of their house, most notably by choosing exterior colors for their home. For Kim Landry, the choice was easy: she chose purple (which, perhaps not incidentally, matches her hair). According to Landry, she “hates white walls,” and as soon as she gets moved in, she will be painting everything inside new colors. Guided by her colorful inclinations, she has already stained her porch a darker shade to suit the purple exterior, even before she’s moved in.
Future homeowners talk about different moments when the house truly felt like it was truly theirs, like they were homeowners, and the earliest moment in that process is in the partnership meeting when they choose the paint colors for their homes. Because homeownership is something that lasts a lifetime (or generations!), the family’s new position as homeowners is more than just a matter of pride and security. It is an enduring motivation that inspires the self-reliance homeowners need to make other changes in their lives. Seeing a tangible benefit of self-reliance in the form of their newly purchased home is often the catalyst families need to pursue even more changes, with homeowners often going back to school, opening their own businesses, or taking time to learn new skills.
Landry’s home was built in part by volunteers and sponsors from Gap, Inc., one of NOAHH’s long-time supporters, who came out for two days in 2015. Other supporters included NOLA SHRM, a local human resources group, and students from Brandeis University and Huntington High School Habitat for Humanity. Representing the hundreds of volunteers who worked on her home, they presented her with the traditional ceremonial gifts of bread, flowers, tools, wine, and keys.
