“I can see myself happy forever in this house.”

Tamika is the proud owner of a renovated home she purchased by partnering with Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. She works with a passion for her community, currently employed as a manager of the Pathways Program at the Jefferson County Action Center and previously served as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Tamika has long valued the stability of homeownership. When she was 13, her family became homeless and struggled to find stable housing. She remembers moving from motel to motel “carrying all our worldly possessions in bags”, feeling insecure and unsafe. At a young age she realized that home ownership equates to “safety, stability, consistency, freedom, and hope.”

When Tamika applied to purchase a home with Habitat, she prequalified for a house that she fell in love with. Before making the big decision to become a Habitat homeowner, Tamika talked to a few of the neighbors and spent time getting to know her future neighborhood. She discovered one neighbor had worked as a Habitat volunteer on her house, as part of his sweat equity for the repairs done do his home through Habitat’s Home Repair Program.