Success StoriesMaria Paladino goes from homeless to homeowner with hard work and a little helpBy Scott Maben Maria Paladino is home. This is her home, her family's home. She picked out the color of the carpeting and kitchen floor. She and her son bought some new furniture and set up an aquarium in a corner of the living room. They planted flowers and got a Mount Fuji cherry tree for the front yard. And on Thursday, the mayor of Eugene will stop by to help dedicate the new lemon yellow house with bright purple trim near the end of East 32nd Street.
Determined to make a better life for herself and her children, Paladino, 42, dug herself out of debt, earned a college degree, found full-time work and raised her kids without child support from her ex-husband. It took years, as well as assistance from welfare, subsidized federal housing and her extended family. But she made it. Earlier this year, Paladino signed a loan to buy the first home she has ever owned. She did it through the Neighborhood Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit agency that has built 123 homes for low-wage earners in Eugene and Springfield since 1991. "I'm just so thrilled and actually moved by Maria's dedication in working so hard to make something so wonderful for her family," said Sandy Halonen, executive director of the community development corporation, known as NEDCO. "It's her determination despite constant obstacles that got her there." Paladino and Nick, her 16-year-old son, moved in June 1. They've spent the summer decorating, landscaping and making plans for the backyard, a blank canvass framed by a new cedar fence. She calls the three-bedroom house her refuge, the hub of family life and a place to make memories. She and Nick already have celebrated their birthdays there. "I still wake up every morning and feel tremendous gratitude," she said. "I think, 'I live in this beautiful house. It's my house.' I couldn't feel any richer if I was a queen." Some people may think that people with limited means should be grateful to get into any type of housing, even if it's old, shabby and small. Paladino rejects such notions. Just like anyone else, she long has had a dream house in mind for her family - a well-built, roomy house in a safe and friendly neighborhood. That is what she waited for. "You want something you will love and stay in," she said. "Why would I want to struggle year after year just to move my children into a bad neighborhood or a tiny, cramped house? If you struggle that hard for a goal, you want to make sure it's worth it when you make it." Paladino persisted through some bleak years, bouncing from crisis to crisis, in order to bring her dream alive. She grew up in a family with alcoholism and violence and left home at age 14. A single mom after a divorce, she had no education beyond high school and no professional skills. She worked a string of poor-paying jobs: hotel maid, cannery worker, cocktail waitress, cashier. She sold plasma to make a few extra bucks for Christmas gifts. Nick's health problems added to the family's woes. Born with serious disabilities, he was hospitalized repeatedly and needed special care at home. Paladino said she also racked up $15,000 in credit card debt, but maintained a good credit rating and eventually paid it all off last year. Most classes were full. Toward the back of the course catalog, Paladino found a spot in a women's studies class, not knowing exactly what it was. It turned out to be a stroke of luck, she said. She got involved with LCC's Women's Program and its Transitions to Success program, which helps displaced homemakers, single parents and other women become economically self-sufficient through education, training and employment. After three years at LCC, she transferred to the University of Oregon and graduated in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in sociology and a minor in women's studies. She helped support her family through financial aid, loans and odd jobs. After she finished college, the family was broke, Paladino said. But she was able to work more as Nick grew older and stronger. She found a job at Sexual Assault Support Services of Lane County, a nonprofit agency, and worked her way up to co-director. Even in that position, her income was so low that she still qualified for Section 8, the federal housing subsidy. The aid helped her rent a duplex in south Eugene for the past eight years. All along she nurtured a goal of one day owning a home. That's what brought her to NEDCO, which offers a homeowner education and counseling program for first-time home buyers - a requirement for anyone who buys a house through the agency. Paladino learned about budgeting, saving and paying off debt, during 22 hours of classes and one-on-one counseling. "She rose to the top," Halonen said. "She was doing everything she needed to do, making a lot of progress." Paladino wanted to stay in south Eugene, in part because her son went to school there and knew the area. Her daughter, Leah, 20, already had moved out and enrolled at LCC to study science. "We felt like it's our neighborhood, our community," she said. "We didn't want to have to move out to Thurston or to Barger." Fortunately, NEDCO had found a project within a mile of her rental home. The agency bought a dilapidated house that the county had seized in property tax foreclosure. When Paladino caught wind of the plans, she went straight over to the property - even before registering her interest with NEDCO - to check it out and meet the neighbors. "I knew this was an opportunity that would not knock twice," she said. "Not just anybody gets a house from us," she said. "People really have to be involved in our program and make progress on their goals." Rainbow Valley Design and Construction, which builds all of NEDCO's homes, broke ground on the 1,200-square-foot home early this year and finished it a few months later. It has a one-car attached garage, 1 1/2 bathrooms and a utility room. The kitchen has new appliances. The bedrooms sport spacious closets. And it's a Super Good Sense home, built to save money on heating. "We want people to get into a home that is solid, that will be energy efficient, that will not burden them with lots of maintenance and repair costs," Halonen said. The house is appraised at $170,000, but NEDCO sells its homes for close to what they cost to build. Maria's mortgage is $129,000 and her payments, which will increase, now are about $750 a month. If she were to sell the house, she also would owe the difference between her loan amount and the appraised value. But selling is the furthest thing from her mind. She's planning her back patio and vegetable garden. Her son is talking about getting a dog one day. They are home. Paladino summed up her feelings recently in writing: |
It's a day Paladino never would have thought possible when she and her children were homeless and sleeping in their station wagon. Or when they moved to Eugene 15 years ago with little to live on. Or when she found herself in an abusive relationship. Or when her son endured five heart surgeries before age 6. Or when she struggled to put herself through college and had to charge groceries to her credit card because she didn't have any cash.