Laura Martinez and her family have moved at least five times since her son, David, was born. Now they’re ready to throw away the moving boxes and stay put.
Two weeks after moving into their home in the Fulton neighborhood, Laura Martinez and her son David and daughter Rebecca can’t stop smiling. Martinez—who also has two older daughters who live with their husbands and children in the Twin Cities—is thrilled to own her own home.
“Rebecca and David and I have always lived in someone else’s home,” Laura said. They’ve lived in a small cabin in northern Minnesota, caring for her sister during a long illness. They’ve shared a home in Texas with one of Laura’s older daughters and her family. Most recently, they returned to the home in Burnsville where Laura
grew up as one of ten children.
The need for their own space has grown stronger over the years. But, looking this summer at her options, Laura didn’t believe she could afford to stay in the Twin Cities. “The idea of finding our own place was so out of my realm of possibility.” Discovering the CLCLT’s Homebuyer Initiated Program made ownership seem reachable for the first time.
The home Laura chose is in the Fulton neighborhood, where home prices are very high. The affordability was built by $60,000 in State and Hennepin County Funding through the CLCLT, plus $25,000 in City rehab funding and $50,000 from the Fulton neighborhood. “The great thing about Fulton,” Council Member Besty Hodges said of the neighborhood’s decision to offer the affordability funding, “is that for them it was a natural way to enhance the neighborhood.”
Jeff Alden, a member of the Fulton Neighborhood Association board of directors and housing committee, said, “Our main impetus was to try and help more families enjoy this neighborhood.” He hopes that the process of using NRP funding this way can be replicated in other neighborhoods as well as for additional homes in Fulton. These partners’ contributions to making this home affordable mean that Laura’s family can stay in Minneapolis, near her older daughters and five grandchildren. “It’s the first time in our lives that all of my children are in one location. One of us has always been half a country away.”
This fall, Rebecca and David will start third and eighth grade. Laura, in addition to working full
time, will start taking classes in the spring at St. Katherine’s, aiming to finish the B.A. she began
30 years ago. Regardless of where that takes her career, she said, “Now I know where I’ll be.”