TAMPA – Lashundranette Sanders spent years raising her three children in a crowded, termite-ridden house, where temperatures inside often rivaled the Florida heat outside.
To make matters worse, police were at times called to respond to gunfire in the neighborhood.
Despite working as a billing specialist at an insurance company, finding safe, affordable housing remained out of reach. All that changed when Lashundranette and her family received the keys to their newly built Habitat for Humanity of Tampa Bay Hillsborough home in East Tampa. Volunteers, community supporters and Habitat leaders celebrated the home’s dedication.
“I have wanted a home of our own for as long as I can remember. Home means mine, ours, us,” Lashundranette said. “I knew that with hard work and determination, I could apply and get a home and still be able to support my kids. I have been telling them: ‘Give momma some time, and we will have a home to call our own.’”
Habitat homeowners and their families invest hundreds of “sweat equity” hours helping build homes, volunteering at events, and working at Habitat’s ReStore home improvement store. Mortgage payments fit the family’s budget and never exceed 30% of the homeowner’s income.
“In Tampa Bay, the shortage of affordable housing is real,” said Tina Forcier, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Tampa Bay Hillsborough. “But when families secure a safe, stable home they can afford, it transforms everything: their sense of security, their ability to thrive and their hope for the future.”
Lashundranette had a message for the volunteers who helped build her new home.
“I cannot thank you enough,” she said. “This home is a dream come true and will always be what I have wanted for life.”
