Habitat’s newest prospective homeowners start work on San Francisco homes

We know a Habitat project is well underway when Habitat homeowners join us on site for the first time, pick up their hammers, and begin building! The 500 hours of ‘sweat equity’ each family puts in alongside our volunteers is a time-honored Habitat tradition and makes a huge difference to our homebuilding effort.

A recent December Saturday saw not one but two new homeowner households arrive to build the homes that they will soon be living in. Even a torrential downpour couldn’t dampen their spirits as they listened carefully to a safety briefing from foreman Michael and were put to work on the eight-home 6,400 sq ft development.

Framing has nearly been completed at this stage and in the next few weeks windows will be being installed.

Vera and Andrew, from San Francisco, spent their morning learning how to measure wood and cut it using the circular saw. They made an effective team and were soon winning praise for their efficient sawing!

“It feels great coming out and being able to help,” said Vera “and also being able to meet some of my new neighbors at the same time.”

Daricka and her son Evan, also from San Francisco, spent most of the day on ladders – first caulking, then measuring, cutting and installing insulation in the hardest-to-reach spots of several rooms.

Recalling the day she first knew her Habitat application would be one of the first to be considered, Daricka says “there were tears in my eyes – I couldn’t believe that out of all these hundreds of people applying I was number one in the lottery.”

“I feel totally blessed being able to participate in this program, to be a part of it, and to own a little piece of San Francisco. If we didn’t get this opportunity we would have had to move out of the city.”

She is looking forward to moving in next year with her children and for them to have an easier bus ride across town to their schools. In the meantime she’s enjoying working with 17-year-old Evan who has already mastered the finer points of insulating residential properties alongside his mom.

Six more Habitat households will join our construction team in the weeks ahead. They are scheduled to move in to their new homes when they are completed in fall next year.

By the end of the day the rain had, if anything, gotten slightly heavier and was now joined by a howling wind. But our new families agreed that, no matter the weather, they couldn’t wait to come back next week.