Beyond the Build: Barbara’s Transformation

Did you know babies can count? A 2013 Duke study indicated babies as young as six months old could distinguish between numbers of objects. Children notice immediately if one child receives more cookies than the other one. Counting (even for cookies) is the most fundamental basis for math.

As adults, we count the dollars that come in and distribute outgoing payments like mortgage, utilities, groceries, transportation and clothing. You can only spend what you have - just as you can only eat the number of cookies that come from the oven. The households with more cookies have more leeway on cookie distribution. Low-income households have fewer cookies and fewer distribution choices.

Barbara knows a lot about cookie math and how housing stability impacts health. Two years ago, she was homeless and couch-surfing following her divorce. She struggled daily with a physical disability and depression that grew worse as her diet of inexpensive processed foods led to significant weight gain. When she entered the Habitat homeownership program, Barbara was depressed, overweight, socially isolated and could barely walk.

Barbara’s situation echoes situations of low-income households everywhere. People in low-income households often spend half their income on housing. This leaves the other half for all the other expenses, including utilities, food and other basic necessities. To make matters more difficult, low-income housing rarely has efficient HVAC or electrical systems. Therefore, the households with the fewest resources spend a higher percentage of income for heat and electricity, leaving fewer resources for things like healthcare and food. Now this is where things get bleak for low-income households. As Barbara discovered, healthy foods like fruits and vegetables cost more than highly processed, low-nutrient food. A diet of low-nutrient food contributes to chronic diseases such as: coronary heart disease and hypertension, cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporotic fractures and dental diseases, perpetuating the cycle of loss for many low-income households like Barbara’s.

But there’s good news too.

The National Housing Conference recently showed how stable housing changes things for the better. Affordable housing can improve health by freeing up resources for things like nutritious food and health care. Affordable housing also improves mental health, decreases asthma rates and lowers lead exposure.

In 2015, Barbara completed her sweat equity and moved into the first Habitat Cabarrus tiny house. She has been in her home over a year and things have changed for Barbara.

Barbara has a positive attitude and outlook now. She loves her home, the neighborhood and her neighbors. Barbara boosts her mental health with social outlets like the monthly neighborhood association meetings she attends and was pleased to help stuff backpacks with back-to-school supplies for several Kannapolis City Schools this past fall. Barbara recognizes the importance of giving back and was pleased to be able to help local children start out their school year in a positive way. In June, she will attend a CPR training class.

“I’m very happy with my tiny house,” says Barbara. “It’s a tiny house – not a tiny life.”

Barbara finds comfort having financial breathing room now. Her tiny house is energy efficient and the zero-interest mortgage is lower than her previous rent. She knows there is a soup kitchen nearby and says, “It’s nice not to have to rely on the food pantry now. I’ll probably always be aware of the social nets that are out there even if I don’t have to rely on them again.”

Over the last year, Barbara has lost 80 pounds. Another aspect of housing stability has led to Barbara improving her health. Once she lowered her stress level and gained emotional space to breathe, she could focus on more than survival. She could finally spend resources on her physical well-being. She credits her weight loss with physician visits to monitor her progress and diet improvements such as increased consumption of healthy fruits, vegetables and foods high in fiber.  Her goal is to lose 30 lbs. more so she can have knee replacement surgery, which in turn will lead to even greater mobility.

Every Habitat House Changes Lives

With a little help, Habitat homeowners are able to achieve the strength and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves and their families.  Learn more about Habitat’s life-changing work in Cabarrus County and meet our future homeowners at www.habitatcabarrus.org

Pathways to Change

When I was a kid we had a dog who figured out that if we were not around to let him in for the night our neighbor would if he scratched on her door. I really loved this neighbor and spent a lot of time hanging out with her after school.  Between the dog and I there was an obvious path worn in the grass between our house and the neighbor’s. That’s what we do to our brains - we wear down pathways from our repeated behaviors either positive or negative.

I love sugar.  (Oh how I love sugar.)  Sadly, sugar is not very good for me or you.  It rots our teeth, suppresses our immune systems, and leads us down the path to diabetes and weight gain.  But sugar tastes and feels so good.  In fact, sugar lights up the pleasure receptors in our brains almost like illicit drugs.  So last year when I quit putting sugar in my coffee (in an attempt to improve my health) it was quite a difficult behavior to change.  

Change is rarely easy, especially the older we become.  And those little behavior pathways may feel more like the Grand Canyon when we try to escape them.  Support helps.  That’s why organizations like AA and Weight Watchers have meetings - to provide support for positive behavior change from professionals and peers.  

When a family enters the Habitat Cabarrus program they go through a three-stage process: Application, Selection, Partnership.  The partnership stage takes the most time - from 12 to 24 months.   The partnership stage provides the future homeowner education and support to change mental pathways and behavior from renter to owner.  The future homeowner also puts in 250 hours of sweat equity on other Habitat houses before construction begins on her own home.       

Why so much time? Let me explain.

Most of our families are long-term renters and generations of renters are not unusual.  

When you rent your dwelling it’s like working for a big company.  When the copier breaks - you tell someone and they call the copier repair people.  The repair person comes out and fixes the copier. You are inconvenienced while the copier is not working but that’s about the extent of your emotional or financial involvement to the equipment.   

As a homeowner YOU bear responsibility for maintaining the equipment.  YOU are the one who grabs the plunger to unclog the toilet when the toddler tries to flush socks.  YOU call the plumber when the plunger can’t shift the tube socks blocking your pipes better than an NFL linebacker holding the line on 4th down. And YOU pay the plumber when they come do their magic.  That’s just the toilet.  What about the gutters, the HVAC, pest control, and routine maintenance items?

  

As a former renter you have no experience in these areas.  None.  If you are the child of renters you’ve never watched your dad put WD40 on the hinges of the front door to stop the squeaking. You’ve never seen your mom clean out your sister’s hair from the bathroom sink.  You’ve never painted your bedroom walls, never changed out a light fixture, never caulked the shower.  You’ve never replaced shingles after a big thunderstorm and never paid a roofer to fix a leak.

In addition to learning basic home maintenance and repairs our Partner Families also gain essential financial skills like budgeting, and cash flow planning through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.  Partner Families learn about insurance, retirement planning, and how to decrease debt.  These financial lessons are just as vital to their long-term success as the sweat equity hours spent on the work site installing siding, laying floors, and painting walls.

  

Home ownership is one of the first rungs on the ladder of financial security -but it is only one.  Habitat Cabarrus works with our partner families to teach skills and behaviors that help build secure futures. Step by step we create the mental pathway together.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”