An improvement from her life unhoused, Tiffany's current residence still presents struggles. Says Tiffany about being accepted into Habitat Tucson's program, "It's honestly an answer to a prayer, because it's hard where I'm living. Some stuff doesn't work, like our water heater, and I can't really ask for it to be fixed because they raise the rent...but to be able to come into our Habitat house potentially four to six months early...that is everything."
Tiffany Chavez is on a life-changing journey through our Homeownership Program, driven by the love she has for her two children, Abigail and Orion. “We’ve been through a lot, so we’re pretty close. Abby helped build our house. They’re every reason I’m doing this.”
For Tiffany, the motivation to own a home stems from a difficult chapter in her life when she experienced homelessness. She recalls the challenges of not having enough support during that time and how deeply it impacted her. Now, she’s determined that her children will never face the same hardships she did.
“I don’t ever want to leave this neighborhood, because since we’ve been here – and we’ve been in this neighborhood for five years – it’s been the safest, most grounded we’ve gotten to be on our own. Habitat [Tucson] started building, and I didn’t believe I’d ever be able to buy one, but they laid like the perfect foundation, and I applied.”
Tiffany didn’t think owning her own home was a possibility, but once she was accepted into the Habitat Tucson program, she not only finished her sweat equity hours in a matter of months but did it working alongside her sixteen-year-old daughter, Abigail.
“She helped me almost every time she was at the construction site. She was using the saws and the hammers and just like every tool, she was cleaning up and just—she did so much. She helped build the floor for our second story on our house,” proudly adding, “She helped me build that.”
Because she completed her sweat equity service hours early, Tiffany also made her downpayment ahead of schedule! She is among the first in her cohort to know which house will be hers, and that is great news since she may get the keys to her new home sooner rather than later.
“It’s honestly an answer to a prayer, because it’s hard where I’m living. Some stuff doesn’t work, like our water heater, and I can’t really ask for it to be fixed because they raise the rent – and we’re month to month – and I don’t want to risk that because we’re saving for our house. I have a little portable water Gator that I got on Amazon and a little portable shower. So we have that, but to be able to come into our Habitat house potentially four to six months early…that is everything.”
Now, Tiffany and her kids are looking towards the future and having the freedom to do what they want with their space and have the security to never have to look for a place again or end up unhoused. This journey has been transformative for all of them.
The most valuable lesson Tiffany has taken from this experience is one of resilience and self-reliance: it has shown Abigail and Orion that they can achieve anything they set their minds to.
Said Tiffany proudly, “It showed them we can do anything, and we don’t need to rely on anyone. We have each other; we have ourselves.”