FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Kenya Benjamin recently moved back into her grandmother's house after six years of living in public housing with her daughter in Fort Pierce. She said there were several shootings then.
“I couldn’t do it with the crime and shooting. It was real bad," she said. "There’s always been crimes out there. I would just try to stay in the house, but as my daughter got older she wanted to go outside, she wanted to play so I knew I had to move.
"I was looking for other places to rent but it was too high and nothing was really available."
Homeownership never seemed to be an option, but thanks to St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity that's about to change.
Benjamin will be a first-time homeowner moving into one of five new multifamily homes in St. Lucie County called the DeLeon Villas.
"It’s going to be a blessing. It’s very expensive to try and get a home right now," Benjamin said.
The homes should be completed by the end of the year.
The project is St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity’s first multifamily affordable housing development.
Bob Calhoun, CEO of St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity, said, “It’s just more economical. You know, the cost of land is way way up so if you can optimize the number of ownership opportunities on that land you’re ahead of the game.”
The homes use what's called a "community land trust model" to ensure long-term affordability beyond the first homeowner.
“The homes will sell for approximately $240,000 because part of the magic of the ground lease is the value of the underlying land is retained by St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity," Calhoun said.
Benjamin said she’s getting a home that she could have only dreamed.
"A three-bedroom, two and a half bath townhome with a garage,” she said. "It’s going to be beautiful, it’s gonna be something that’s new, something that I can call mine just to show my daughter what she can accomplish as she gets older."
St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity is already working on acquiring land to build the next set of affordable multifamily homes.