Nothing could keep the beaming smile from Chrystyan Dos Santos’ face as his family received the key for one of Wakefield’s first Habitat for Humanity homes.
The following day, Chrystyan, Debora and their two children, Helena, 11 and Lucy, nearly 10, were moving in, with the opportunity of fulfilling their dream of owning their own home in a few years because of the progressive home ownership programme.
“We are just so lucky to have this chance. We are just so stoked that this will be ours in four-and-a-half years. There’s this feeling now of being settled and having roots, which is very special. It’s just a dream.”
Three families received keys for the newly-built houses on Whitby Rd and Chrystyan says it is hard to put into words what it means for his family to have a place to call home without someone else controlling how long they would be allowed to live there.
The couple moved to Nelson from Brazil in 2018 and three times they have had to pack up and find a new home because the owners of the houses decided to sell. They were only a year in one of those homes and that time they were told in November that the house was going on the market. At the time Chrystyan, a civil engineer, was busy working on the Waimea Community Dam and it was a hard time of year to find a new rental.
“It was just devastating,” he says. “I remember it was a Friday morning, and I was not expecting it. It’s a feeling of not belonging anywhere when your home is dependent on whoever owns the house.”
Then, a week after they submitted an application for one of the Habitat Homes in Wakefield, their latest landlord told them they had three months to find another rental as their home was being sold.
“Any time you can get that call. So, this is a dream to be able to provide our family with a more secure place to stay.”
For years they have been trying to grow their savings for a deposit, but Chrystyan says it has frustratingly stayed beyond their reach after rent was paid.
With the Habitat for Humanity homes, families enter an agreement and pay an affordable rent, which contributes towards a deposit for a mortgage. The house is valued before the family moves in and becomes the agreed purchase price when the family is ready to purchase the property from Habitat.
Chrystyan says, combined with their savings, the model will enable them to save towards a deposit on the house when they finally purchase it, which is “incredible”.
“It’s a milestone for our family and we’re looking forward to being in this community.”
For Helena and Lucy, it’s the first time they have had their own bedrooms, and though both are happy to have their own space and Lucy “doesn’t have to hear her snore anymore”, Helena admits she will miss her younger sister talking at night, even in her sleep.
