When Home Becomes Hope: Rachel’s Journey Toward Stability

When Home Becomes Hope: Rachel’s Journey Toward Stability

While Rachel has not always known stability herself, she shows up every day determined to create it for people around her.

As a children’s long term support and service specialist, Rachel works with children who have autism, helping supplement services that insurance will not cover. She also lives with and takes care of her mother, who is recovering from surgery and dealing with declining memory.

“I’m the only child she has that is capable of assisting her,” Rachel said. “Thankfully she’s not completely unable to take care of herself, but I have to check on her.”

At times, Rachel also steps in to support her nieces and nephews, a role she has embraced for years.

“I’m the youngest of four,” Rachel said. “All of my siblings had kids. I took it upon myself to [look out for] the kids. They need an example.”

While working to provide stability to those around her, Rachel has long dreamed of creating that same sense of stability for herself through homeownership. Her mother purchased her house in the 1980s and has lived there since. Rachel knows she could be a successful homeowner, but for years she believed that owning a home would stay out of reach.

“My mom bought her house in the 80s,” Rachel said. “You could buy your house for a dollar and a twinkie then. I feel like everybody has the desire to own a house. But it’s just not feasible anymore.”

In today’s dollars, mortgage payments cost about 40% more than they did in 1990. Because incomes haven’t kept pace, homeownership is significantly less attainable than it was one generation ago (Source).

Then, a friend of hers sent her info on Milwaukee Habitat’s Affordable Homeownership program, and she applied. This was the moment homeownership started to feel possible. 

“When I found a program like this, it wasn’t a hopeless dream to own my home,” Rachel said. “This program gave me hope.”

As Rachel builds her future home in partnership with Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity, she is motivated by the idea of stability and what it can mean for the rest of her life.

“[Homeownership] is stability,” Rachel said. “I never had that growing up. I never knew what was going to happen. I would like children of my own, and I don’t want them to have that sense of anxiety every single day.”

Rachel is also excited about the daily joys she will find when making her home her own, including creating a garden to table cooking routine.

“I’m going to have a garden,” Rachel said. “I want a greenhouse and I want a nice kitchen. I love to cook with the food I grow; it’s so exciting for me. I am looking forward to it. I love a good kitchen. I’m the type of person to make everything homemade, mill grain to make my own bread type of person. My homemade tomato sauce is my favorite.”

While many aspects of Rachel’s life are out of her control, she is determined to make her home a safe place where she gets to make all of the decisions. 

“It’s mine,” Rachel said. “There’s too many times when there are things going on and I can’t do anything about it. That won’t be the case here. What I say goes and no one can tell me otherwise.”

Despite the instability of many aspects of her life, Rachel continues to fight for the future she wants. Now that she is building a home of her own, Rachel has found a renewed sense of hope. She is ready to build the life and the stability she has always wanted and ready to do it in partnership with Milwaukee Habitat. 

“This program is an opportunity for people who have no hope,” Rachel said. “Every day I wake up and feel like I have no control. You find little sparks in the darkness that you follow in search of hope. This program is one of those sparks.”