CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte rents are skyrocketing and many longtime residents are being forced out of their neighborhoods, but Habitat for Humanity is creating the opportunity for more people to have safe and affordable housing in the Queen City.
The people who receive these homes help build them and go through financial literacy classes. The program makes homeownership a reality for so many families who never thought it was an attainable goal.
Decorating for the holidays is even more meaningful when the front door you hang the wreath on is yours.
“I feel so much happier," Stephanie Little said. "Less stressed."
She has a lot to be grateful for as she comes up on one year of homeownership thanks to Habitat for Humanity.
“It was great," Little said. "We did financial classes you know, getting to know your neighbor classes."
It’s how she got to know Norcecil Lowery, a Marine Corps veteran whose Habitat home was built in 2019. Lowery never got to move in.
“Unfortunately he did pass away this past July, so he was unable to move into his home and to reach that end of that dream and that journey," Shannon Hinson with Habitat for Humanity said. "But he did work very hard."
It's bittersweet, but Lowery's death gave someone else an opportunity to move into the neighborhood.
Little's new neighbor is none other than her daughter. The mother-daughter duo now lives just a few doors down from each other in west Charlotte.
"That's my best friend!" NaPorscha Little said. "She's my best friend."
After years of renting, the 30-year-old just achieved her big goal.
"I'm owning it now," she said. "No more rent, all mortgage."
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