City and county officials along friends and neighbors were on hand to welcome a tearful Eziquia Benitez to her new home. The celebration marked the fulfillment of a dream to own her own home for the officially to her new home.
The mother of four has been a resident in Madras since 1982. She has worked a variety of jobs including agricultural work to her current position as assistant manager of the bakery at Erickson's Thriftway. She has been a participant on the Housing Choice Voucher program for seven years. In that time, she joined the Family Self-Sufficiency program where she defined her goal of homeownership. To that end, Ms. Benitez attended classes and built her assets to attain her goal.
But when she was ready to buy her dream home, the prices of homes in the regional remained beyond her financial reach.
In the meantime, Housing Works was working in a unique partnership with Jefferson County and the City of Madras to redevelop a blighted neighborhood. Part of this redevelopment included homeownership sites. With each entity playing its part–Housing Works bought the land for its HomeQuest program, the City of Madras brought city sewer to the neighborhood, Jefferson County and Oregon Housing & Community Services provided construction funding/loans for the purchase of land by the housing authority and new home construction.
With a site available, Ms. Benitez was able to qualify for and obtain a home loan from USDA Rural Development through their direct loan program at an excellent interest rate. HUD provided a Section 8 Homeownership Voucher which pays a portion of the monthly mortgage.
The home was built by Hayden Homes who value engineered one of their standard homes to an affordable price.
It is a "dream come true" for Ms. Benitez and her children. Congratulations!
For more information of Housing Works and the HomeQuest program, call 541-923-1018.
