According to Out of Reach 2020, an annual report published by the National Low-Income Housing Association, the fair-market rent for a two bedroom apartment in the Bryan/College Station area is $938 a month.

Despite working full-time, single mother Camelia Rojo can’t afford this; she has to have enough money left over to pay for the food, clothing, education and medical care that she and her two daughters need.
How does she manage? By living with her parents and three siblings in her parents’ house, which only has one bathroom and severe water damage that they can’t afford to fix.

Overcrowding is a common occurrence when affordable housing is in short supply. Camelia and her daughters —Emily is 7 and Stefany is 2 — shouldn’t have to stuff three small mattresses into one bedroom … but they do.

Fortunately, Camelia heard about Habitat through her co-workers. After her first application was denied because of too much debt, she worked hard for several years to bring it down. When she was accepted into the Program in May 2019, Camelia said: “I couldn’t stop crying.”

Soon, Camelia will become the proud owner of a three-bedroom, two-bathroom Habitat home. All three of them are ready to start this new and improved chapter of their lives. Camelia wants the sponsors and volunteers of her home to know how grateful she is for their financial support and physical labor, which make Habitat’s homeownership program possible.

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to provide a nice, dignified home for my daughters,” she said. “I would never have been able to afford something else or buy my own home.”