Walking into the house you tread carefully on rotting floors and pass by water-damaged furniture that has been ruined by leaks in your roof. You dodge a few drips yourself on your way to the kitchen, where you begin the routine chore of boiling water in order to do the dishes and take a bath. A nice hot bath might be relaxing at this point of the day–if only you didn’t have to don a pair of high-heeled shoes just to maneuver through the sewage backed up in the bathroom. Relaxing seems out of the question anyway. After all, the deteriorating walls around you that are supposed to enclose and protect are now peeling lead-based paint and exposing electrical wiring, threatening your family members’ lives every day. “Well,” you think to yourself, “at least we are all back together under one roof.” Anyone in the above scenario would be pinching himself by now, hoping to awaken from a terrible nightmare. But this scene is all too real for a family that for a year lived in just such a house.
Meet Ramona T. and her four children Kimberly (17), Thomas (15), Joseph (12), and Exzell (3); a family that is currently building a home with Habitat for Humanity St. Louis. Unfortunately, Ramona’s story is one that is familiar to many St. Louis residents and people across the country who endure such inhumane living conditions every day.
On September 3, 2003, the Census Bureau released its latest study of poverty in the U.S. and reported that another 1.4 million Americans fell into poverty over the past year, half of them children. That brings the estimated number of people living in poverty to a staggering 34.8 million, or 12.4% of the U.S. population. Moreover, of the 30 million households with housing problems, 14.5 million qualify for government aid, yet only 4.1 million are actually receiving any assistance. One can imagine the astounding housing needs not being met today by mere government programs. However, Habitat for Humanity St. Louis is trying to keep up with these needs.
Ramona T. is just one of more than 2000 area families that came to Habitat in the last year hoping to realize the dream of owning their own home. A recovering addict now clean for nearly four years, Ramona had found herself in rehab, with her kids scattered at the homes of friends and family members. She made the decision that she wanted a different life. “I was basically homeless,” she told us. “The house I was living in was condemned. I went and got a second job and tried to get a better place where all my kids could be comfortable living in one house. But I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know if I should go live in a shelter, or what? I didn’t know who I was going to turn to.”
Then a friend and eventual sponsor of Ramona’s– who had become the proud owner of a Habitat house not long before–encouraged her to contact Habitat about her situation. Fortunately, after the family was accepted into the program and subsequently forced from their condemned house, Ramona’s sister offered them a place to stay until their Habitat house is finished in December. Although the arrangement works for now, it does highlight one of the major problems poverty-stricken households face: overcrowding. With seven children and three adults in the home where Ramona currently is living, the number of people residing in the small house is greater than the total number of rooms in the house. Across America, 2.5 million people face this same problem.
Overcrowding is not the only thing that exacerbates housing dilemmas today. Sheer physical inadequacies can be even worse than those described in Ramona’s home. One low-income family out of seven might not have any hot water, electricity, or toilets at all! Physical deficiencies can lead to further housing problems such as extreme cost burdens–paying an excessively large percentage of income on housing costs.
About 14 million people pay more than 30% of their monthly income for rent and utilities, and more than 6.7 million households pay more than 50% of their income for rent. In Ramona’s case, because of plastic-covered broken windows and crumbling cement walls, she was paying two to three times the average cost for utility bills. Working two jobs, 78 hours a week, she barely made ends meet. “The only thing I was able to do was make sure we had food, make sure we washed our clothes every week, and make sure the kids got to school.” Ramona said.
Affordable housing is only getting harder to find as fewer livable rental units are available. Section 8 housing provides little relief to the problem while landlords provide less maintenance to structures and the gap between housing costs and earned wages steadily grows. The housing wage in Missouri is $10.80 per hour. This is the amount that a full-time worker must earn per hour in order to afford a two-bedroom unit at the area’s fair market rent. That equates to 210% of the minimum wage, which is currently $5.15 per hour. This is why Habitat not only strives to meet physical needs, but also to assist with the financial needs as well by providing quality housing, and providing it at an affordable rate.
Besides reducing monthly mortgage payments by using charitable donations and discounts to construct homes at the lowest cost possible, Habitat makes sure homeowners are equipped with information and knowledge related to the maintenance of their home and financial management. Ramona was thankful for this. “I need a lot of help balancing my money,” she said. In this way, Habitat partners with people to get them on the right track to avoiding housing pitfalls. Providing them with educational classes on these subjects meets yet another need.
 One of the most amazing things about the journey people take when partnering with Habitat is that they find along the way they have received more than just a home. They have received friends, they have received a hand up, and they have received hope. They themselves are putting 450 hours of sweat equity into the construction of their home or other Habitat houses. Ramona and her children have had the chance to meet many individuals. She tells us, “A lot of people have come and given me a lot of support. You’ve got people you’ve never met before, and they’re willing to stand with you, side by side, and put a nail in a house they know you’re going to live in.&rdquo
It seems the page definitely has turned for Ramona and her family, and their story promises future chapters full of hope. Now she envisions what it will be like when they have their new home. She wants to go back and get her GED so she can further her education. Her goal is to be able to quit her job as a machine operator and work in the field of computers. She also is excited that the future is brighter for her children as well. “My past is all screwed up and now I’m looking to try to work hard for my kids not to make some of the same mistakes I made,” she said. “They have a better opportunity now and all we have to do is take advantage of it.”
 While Joseph wants to be a lawyer, his sister Kimberly dreams of being a psychiatrist one day. Ramona is glad that the time they once spent boiling water and fixing various things around the house will now be used for reading and education. Statistically, as children of a homeowner, they are 25% more likely to graduate from high school, 116% more likely to graduate from college, and 59% more likely to own their own homes than children from non-home-owning families. And so the gift of Habitat for Humanity goes on.
 Standing on the front porch of her current residence, Ramona began to reminisce of times when she was young–times when she and her family were close and did things together; times when her older children weren’t angry with her for the decisions she had made. The years have brought separation and disappointment, but she hopes that her loved ones now will see a woman who is a good person, who is working to change her life’s circumstances, and who is helping to build homes for other families as she continues to work with Habitat. Ramona is looking forward to little things too, like decorating her house and planting a garden in the back yard to grow her own vegetables. But when we asked her what she was most looking forward to in the new house, just for her, she answered, “Peace of mind.”
Habitat for Humanity St. Louis wishes to bring peace of mind and much, much more to many other families in need. Ranking in the top 2% of all Habitat affiliates in the U.S., our St. Louis affiliate is well-positioned to provide the opportunity of home ownership and the hope it brings to even more families. Many people view Habitat as a volunteer organization—and we are. However, we need the financial support of individuals and organizations in the St. Louis Community to help us with our challenging mission of eliminating sub-standard housing in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
You can help be a part of the solution! Consider today making a charitable donation or encouraging your church or corporation to sponsor a home. Ramona, Kimberly, Thomas, Joseph, and Exzell are just some of the many who will thank you
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