SAN ANTONIO – A housing nonprofit helped to complete the final touches on homes for local families on Saturday.
Over 350 Habitat for Humanity volunteers spent their Saturdays scraping, digging, raking and landscaping 23 new homes for families in San Antonio.
This year, Habitat for Humanity San Antonio and Guadalupe Valley Habitat for Humanity said 63 homes have been built and just finished dedicating the final houses for 2024.
“It works because they work. They work hard,” said Stephanie Wiese, Vice President of Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio. “They’re trying to help themselves, trying to help their families.”
Each family moving into a habitat house must put in at least 300 hours of “sweat equity” and attend home ownership education meetings.
“Our families are going to buy these homes with a zero percent interest note,” Wiese said. “So, they’re not going to be paying the interest on the house. That’s what’s going to make it affordable to them.”
Melody Martinez, a mother of four, said she is happy that she can finish the house her family has been working on.
“I’m filled with gratefulness. Humility,” she said.
Martinez and her family are moving from a mobile home into their new 1,300-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms on the Southwest Side.
She said what makes this change so successful is the time each of her kids has put into it.
"When we got here and we were able to put in the work and see it go from the frame up to setting up cabinets. Like, it means something to us because it wasn’t something that was given to us," Martinez said. “It was actually something that we earned.”
Habitat for Humanity of San Antonio said it’s always looking for families in need to apply to their housing program.
Anyone interested in applying can do so online.
