Yearning to find safety and security after years of navigating the rental market, Nicole and Serafim Fortuna will soon be able to provide their sons with safety and security now that ground has broken on the latest Habitat for Humanity builds in Kingsville.
Nicole Fortuna said she and her husband had dreams of owning a home, but when Serafim suffered injuries in an accident, those aspirations were put on hold.
"When the housing boom happened in 2016, everything just fell apart for us," she told BlackburnNews.com. "Landlords want to sell, and we have really struggled severely since then."
The couple found themselves overwhelmed financially trying to pay high rental costs in areas where crime flourished and languished for years on a waitlist for geared to income housing. The Fortunas said they had been flipped out of their homes so many times by landlords who had sold the property, their sons, Dean and Logan, no longer unpacked.
On Saturday, they joined the Ford family in putting shovels in the ground. The lots back on to each other on Birch and Maple Avenue in the town's Cedar Beach area.
The Ford family has suffered hardship too. Melody has mobility issues after suffering complications while delivering one of her who children and her two sons suffer from a rare autoimmune disorder. Finally, Kaleb and Dakota will be free from the threat of contamination in a new, clean house, while their mother will be able to move safely in a fully accessible environment.
The Ford family August 25, 2019. (Photo by Cordell Green)
Charmaine Ford also had a dream of owning a home.
"Finding out about Habitat and partnering with them rebirthed that dream for us; of owning a home that's safe, that's appropriate for Melody's disabilities and the boys' disabilities," she said. "Truly, it does mean more than words."
Both families said the sense of security a home of their own would provide is priceless, but Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex Executive Director Fiona Coughlin explained it is not without cost. She said that the family becomes taxpayers in their town or city.
"It's bigger than that one family," she said. "People don't realize, our families actually pay back for their home. They pay a zero down payment, zero-interest mortgage, but they pay back that build fund so we can build the next house."
Coughlin also said the build helps entire neighbourhoods with every $1 invested spinning off $4 in benefits for the community.
"When we build a house, that house has a huge transformational impact on a family. It completely stops the cycle of poverty in its tracks," Coughlin added. "They can spend time educating their children and taking care of their community."
The builds in Kingsville are the second and third of three homes built this year in the region. The organization has also finished 65 new houses in Windsor-Essex so far.
