September 9, 2011
Young renter seeks to be home-owner with help of Habitat
Editor’s note: The following article was provided by Kristine Schroeder, from the Evansville affiliate of Habitat for Humanity.
Brittany Cotton has always been independent. The Evansville native began living on her own at eighteen, and once her son Brayden was born, she worked every day to pay her bills, sometimes as much as eighty hours a week. Because that left little time to spend with Brayden, Brittany knew she needed to buy a home with affordable payments. Habitat homes were the perfect choice.
“It was getting to the point where I was really stressed,” the 24-year-old said. “I was receiving no financial help. I was falling apart. I worked every single day, and I didn’t get to see Brayden very much.” When her lease on her two bedroom apartment came due, Brittany decided it was time to move in with her mother so that she could save money. “I wanted to save some money before I made that big step of owning a house,” she added.
Brittany was born in Evansville, graduated from North High School, and attended al-most two years at Ivy Tech where she was pursuing a de-gree as a medical assistant. Af-ter taking a required lab class, her focus shifted. Currently, she is employed as a lab technician at a local hospital. She enjoys the work.
Because Cotton is still required to put in a myriad of hours at work, it has been difficult fulfilling Habitat’s required 300 hours of sweat equity. However, as of mid-August, she had accumulated 200 hours. Brittany has chosen her house design (the cottage style), which has a welcoming archway over the front porch. (Habitat for Humanity has seven designs from which to choose. Families also select their choice of carpet, kitchen cabinets, linoleum, and house color in some cases.)
Cotton is excited about paying only $275 a month for her new home as opposed to the $600 she had been paying in rent. This reduction will allow her to build equity in her home and also begin a savings for her son’s future. “This opportunity will be a big relief knowing that I can put money back for Brayden so that he won’t have to go through the struggles that I have experienced,” Brittany said. “He knows we’re getting a house eventually, and he’s excited. But, I don’t think he fully understands.”
Once she is in her new home, she hopes to go back to school, finish her degree, and find a job that will require fewer hours away from home. Although she is not sure what degree she wants to pursue, she is definite about staying in a health-related field.
Cotton’s home is being sponsored by Catholics for Habitat. This is the eighteenth home sponsored by that group. Cotton has remarked on the generosity shown by all involved in this endeavor from the volunteers who work on the project to the donors who fund it. “For someone who cares that much for other people to make sure that they have a roof over their heads, that’s very touching,” Cotton said. “They could be putting that money towards their own families, but they are choosing to help others have better lives. It [Habitat] makes the community a better place to be,” she said.