Home Repair Helps Single Mom Have ‘Peace of Mind’
Tara, a single-mother of two children, lives with her family in Bellevue. Like all loving parents, Tara’s first and highest priority is to provide for and invest in her children. However, Tara’s single-parent-income for a family of three makes things difficult. Tara often encounters the all-too-common struggle of having to choose between providing for her children, home maintenance, and other expenses. But for Tara, the difficult financial decisions always had the same outcome. Her children always came first.
Tara’s investment in her children is paying off. Her son is an infantry Marine, and her daughter is a scholarship student at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. However, her modest Sarpy County home in Bellevue was not faring as well. She had damage to her front porch from a 2017 tornado that wasn’t covered by insurance, and her wooden lap siding was rotting and falling off. She also had a backyard tree threatening further damage to her home and a deck that needed minor repairs. With such a list, Tara had no idea where to start or how she would pay for it.?
The answer came through her role as a membership manager for a local association. Habitat Omaha is a member, and the contact she called was Ken Mar, Habitat Omaha’s Area County Director. In explaining the benefits of the association to Ken, Tara learned about Habitat Omaha’s Home Repair program. “I was like, wow!” she said. Tara went to the website in the spring of 2022, did her own research and applied to repair her porch. “It was a safety hazard. It had been continually falling apart, and I needed help.” Tara said she had never done any construction or remodeling on her home. “So, I was a little scared about the process. I was a little worried about trusting someone.”
Those worries ended quickly when the Home Repair crew arrived, she said. “I loved when I met with Habitat. Those guys were with me through the whole process. It was great because I didn’t have to do it alone.”?The work didn’t stop with the porch. Tara discovered she could replace her wooden siding with vinyl siding to make her home more energy efficient. The workers also trimmed up the tree and did some deck repairs. “Things I didn’t realize I could do,” she added.?
The work on the 25-year-old house she has owned for 10 years was completed during the summer of 2023. Her financial investment with Habitat Omaha’s zero-interest loan helped turn a lingering project and safety hazard into a “super cute house,” she said. “I’m very proud of my home.”