Homeowner Stories

Camille Allen’s home in Morristown was formerly the site of the neighborhood dump, a place to deposit leaves, glass bottles, and the occasional used tire. Then Morris Habitat for Humanity acquired the compact piece of property nestled in a corner of a development close to Speedwell Avenue. Today, the land bears no evidence of its junkyard past. A three-unit house sits on it enveloped by large trees.

Allen lives with her two sons in the middle unit. All three units have a comfortable two-level floor plan with three bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen, living room, and utility room downstairs.

Life was not always so good for Allen. Before she moved into her Habitat home in 2002, the 35-year old Jamaica native, who came to the U.S. eighteen years ago, lived in Morris Plains while working as a social worker with the Morris County Division of Human Services. Her older son, Sean, was in high school and her younger one, Fabian, was in elementary school.

For Allen, the financial burden of living in one of the most expensive counties in the country was proving to be too much. “I was paying 60% of my income for rent,” she said. “It was hard to make ends meet.”

And so when she found out that she had been chosen from among many applicants to become one of the homeowners in a three-family structure to be built in Morristown, Allen was overjoyed. “It was very emotional,” she said of the time. “We were really excited.”

Her circumstances, she feels, were symptomatic of the affordable housing crisis in Morris County, one that affects not just low-income individuals but those of moderate income as well. As an articulate and confident young woman with a college degree, she had “a decent job,” Allen said, but it was still a struggle to come up with the monthly rent payments.

Now free from the burden of writing large rent checks, this single mother can focus on the things that are important to her, like her sons’ education. Fabian, now a sixth grader, is on the Honor Roll at Freylinghuysen Middle School while Sean is a junior at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

She herself has her sights set on more than one goal. She currently holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology but intends to return to school for a master’s and eventually a doctoral degree in social work. In addition to her full-time job, she referees at soccer and lacrosse games, serves as the president of the area’s Interfaith Council for the Homeless, and often bakes for various local events.

How does she fit all this into a 24-hour day? “I don’t need much sleep,” Allen said with a smile, but she attributed part of this voluntary hyperactivity to being a Habitat homeowner. “When your financial situation changes, your entire life changes,” she said. “If your housing is unstable, you can’t focus on your goals.”

Shortly after Ada completed a bachelor’s degree in law in the Dominican Republic, she fled from an abusive husband, leaving two young sons with her parents. Ada arrived in Dover, New Jersey, distraught and unable to speak English. She found work as a hairstylist and enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class.

Helar Lanchipa attended college in Peru for a degree in engineering telecommunications before dropping out to help his father in the family auto parts store. Helar had observed that even college graduates had a hard time finding employment in Peru. Figuring that life in the United States might offer him opportunities that would never present themselves at home, he also made his way to Dover, New Jersey. Without knowing English, he found Spanish-speaking friends and a provisional job in hospital maintenance. Most of Helar’s work could be done without English, except that he was always on call via a walkie-talkie. A friend advised him to answer every walkie-talkie call with the English words “Go ahead!” Although that led to some unfortunate results when he failed to attend to urgent maintenance requests, his excellent work earned him a permanent position on the staff.

Helar resolved to learn English. He sought out American friends, stopped watching Spanish TV, and enrolled in an ESL class where he noticed an earnest young woman named Ada. They became good friends, and the friendship led to marriage. The family quickly expanded with the birth of their daughter Ashley and the arrival of Ada’s sons German and Ryan from the Dominican Republic in 2001. Ada left her hairstyling position to care for the children. Two years later, Kevin was born.

The Lanchipas could not maintain their Dover apartment and family on one salary, so they moved to the Sussex Interfaith Shelter. There they began to receive help from the Housing Authority, including rent assistance for a house in Jefferson. In 2005 they applied unsuccessfully for a Morris Habitat for Humanity house. Undeterred, they applied again in 2007, and their names were drawn by lottery for the next house to be built—in Jefferson!

Helar wasted no time in starting the family’s required 300 hours of “sweat equity” by working on other Habitat homes under construction in Denville and Hopatcong. He especially enjoys roofing, framing, and window installation. Ada and the older sons are also contributing to the sweat equity hours. They’ve helped to take down trees at the site of their future home on Collins Avenue, and Ada volunteers at the Morris Habitat ReStore off Route 46 in Mine Hill, where donated construction and household items are sold to the public at a fraction of their retail cost.

Helar now works as an electro-mechanical assembler for a medical testing equipment firm. It pays less than his former maintenance job but provides the experience he wants in electronics. He is pursuing an associate’s degree in electronics engineering at the County College of Morris. Ada keeps busy caring for the four children. German has a summer job in landscaping. He and Ryan are students at Jefferson Township High School, Ashley will begin first grade in September, and Kevin will attend preschool. Helar and Ada speak both Spanish and English with their children, who are all fluently bilingual.

The Lanchipas often reflect on the differences they find between the USA and their Latin American home countries. Ada misses the constant warm weather, Helar misses the ocean, and Ryan misses the animals on his grandparents’ farm. But here, Ada enjoys the security, Helar is grateful for the work opportunities, and Ryan loves the snow. All of them appreciate the help they’ve received on their journeys to and within the United States. “God has always blessed me, putting the right people—like angels—in my life,” says Ada. Morris Habitat for Humanity is the latest group of angels, helping the family to build a house and make it a home.