Florida Hometown Title & Escrow 2020 Home Sponsorship

Thank you for helping us build a Habitat Home!

Last year, Florida Hometown Title & Escrow teamed up with Habitat for Humanity of Lee and Hendry Counties to raise $50,000 and build a new home. Our goal was to give a local family access to affordable homeownership, while at the same time, building awareness about the need for affordable homes in our community. Over the course of 2019 and 2020, we worked with passionate sponsors, donors, and community partners to raise awareness, funds and walls… thanks to their generosity, we’ve achieved our goal! In February 2020, our team came together to raise the walls for this new house and transform raw materials into a home for Jorge and his son, Enrique.

Safe, decent, and affordable houses are critical to the health and well-being of all families. Thank you for helping us build a Habitat for Humanity home in LaBelle and being part of Jorge’s journey to homeownership.

Meet our newest homeowner: Jorge

Jorge is a single father to his 13-year old son, Enrique. A long-time Hendry County resident, Jorge works in the agriculture industry driving trucks for a local farm. Due to steadily increasing housing costs, he and Enrique were forced to move into a low-income apartment complex where Jorge still spent more than 50% of his monthly income on rent. Often working more than 40 hours each week, he relied on family to help care for his son but faced many challenges due to the complex’s strict rules regarding visitors.

Jorge knew that he wanted to provide a safe, stable home for his son as he grew up. He first applied for a Habitat home in early 2019 but did not initially qualify. Nevertheless, he continued meeting regularly with a Habitat housing counselor, building his credit, learning to manage his finances, and saving funds. After one year he reapplied and was selected for the homeownership program in February 2020.

Like all Habitat homeowners, Jorge contributed 300 volunteer sweat equity hours, completed 20+ hours of homeownership and financial education classes, and saved $1,700 towards closing costs. Then, on October 16th, 2020, Jorge came to the Habitat offices and purchased his new home! With a zero-percent interest mortgage and payments set at no more than 30% of his income, his dream of homeownership became a reality. “Thank you to Habitat and thank you to everyone who helped me realize this American Dream. My family and I are very happy and thankful to you all.”

COVID-19 Impact

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Habitat for Humanity of Lee and Hendry Counties remains committed to serving our partner families. In March 2020, our organization made the difficult decision to close our jobsites and ReStores to public volunteers, which remains in effect today. Our priority was providing opportunities to current homeownership candidates so they could safely fulfill their sweat equity contributions. Homeowner education classes transitioned to a virtual format and housing counselors remain available, providing assistance and encouragement. As an essential construction and social services business, Habitat for Humanity was able to safely accommodate construction and non-construction staff in our home-building efforts, including Jorge’s home. This ensured that our homes were completed on time and were ready for their future homeowners. Since March, 33 new families – including Jorge – have purchased their home. We look forward to the day when we can welcome sponsors and volunteers back to our jobsites, so please continue to stay safe and healthy.