HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — They call it "sweat equity," but Juel Ebron called it work.
250 hours spent helping to build her first home---part of a duplex in the heart of Havre de Grace saying goodbye to a lifetime of renting for her and her 14-year-old son, Giovanni.
“You’re really essentially not building any equity from it,” said Ebron. “It’s just something you’re putting money into and the next month, you could be gone.”
Now, Ebron and Giovanni are joining six other families in these new homes that benefit from a zero-interest mortgage and monthly payments that can’t exceed 30 percent of their income.
“They make it to where people who may not have otherwise been able to afford a mortgage, they make it affordable so you can get out if it’s a bad neighborhood, a bad situation,” said Ebron. “It’s just a way that… it’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
This is the first time Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna has built an entire subdivision, and the pandemic created a myriad of challenges along its path.
RELATED: Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna makes homeownership a reality
Masking and distancing limited the work volunteers could perform, and supply chain issues drove up the price of building materials.
“We had some generous contractors who did donate some of their materials or time and we just made it work,” said Executive Director Yvonne Golczewski. “We prayed a lot and people came together and pitched in and it worked.”
Now, Ebron's mother is singing the praises of home ownership, and as a single mother, herself, Debbra Mason says it provides hope for generations to come.
“Just have something that she can leave for her son, and her son’s son I guess for the future,” Mason said.
