Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

Home for the holidays

Habitat for Humanity builds house for Cuellar family

BAYFIELD –Thanksgiving may be frantic for Xiomara “Mara” Cuellar, but she already knows what she'll be giving thanks for, not just today, but for some time to come.

Over the next four days, she and her six children are moving into their new home built through Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County. The five-bedroom, two-bath, 1,676 square-foot home is the largest the organization has built in its 20-years.

“It's unbelievable, it's wonderful,” Cuellar said in the midst of unpacking boxes. “I can't believe how many people volunteered hours without even knowing me or my family.”

Cuellar's children – Isis Gonzales, 16, Briant, 14, Orion, 13, Gabriela, 11, Nicole, 6, and Christopher, 4 – weren't too sure when she came home to tell them they had been approved for a Habitat home.

“They said they didn't want to move, didn't want to leave their friends,” she said about the move from Ignacio, where they've been living, to Fox Farm in Bayfield. “Then they saw the house and started asking, 'When do we move? I want my own room.'”

Briant's take on the family's new digs was pretty succinct.

“We were in an old house with small rooms and all squished up,” he said looking over his own room. “This is good.”

Groups such as the Habitat Caravaners, Collegiate Challenge and Bike and Build, including numerous people with expertise in different phases of construction, all traveled to Southwest Colorado to work on the home, with stays ranging from a few days to a month.

“I don't know if you could call it volunteer tourism,” said Rachel Taylor-Saghie, executive director of Habitat, “but fortunately people want to come to Durango. It has quite a positive impact on the local economy, too, because they work on the house during the day and then go out to enjoy what our area has to offer at night.”

Its the 39th home the organization has built.

“It's still very modest,” said Taylor-Saghie, “and she's such a solid person and very good with her money. But with her income, she never could have afforded a five-bedroom home.”

Cuellar has worked for 15 years at Mercy Regional Medical Center as a supervisor. Already a single mother, she adopted her younger sister's four children after her death.

“They're all mine now,” she said. “I don't really think of them any other way.”

'Not a free home'

In addition to the 3,300 hours put in by volunteers as construction labor, Cuellar herself put in 280 hours, 30 more than required as a single head of household. The hours of sweat equity serve as her down payment.

Because none of her children is 18, she had to put in all the hours herself.

“She's amazing,” Taylor-Saghie said. “For someone who goes to work at 5 p.m. at night and takes care of six kids, she would still show up at 8 a.m. to greet the volunteers and paint and hammer along with them.”

Her children did their part, though, Cuellar said.

“The older kids put in their hours, too, cooking and looking after the younger children,” she said. “It was a true family effort.”

One thing that bothers her is people's impression that the house is a handout.

“Somebody asked me when I was moving into my 'free' home,” Cuellar said. “I said, 'It's not a free home. I have to make mortgage payments just like you do.”

The size of the mortgage payments actually means her housing cost is going up a little, she said.

“The good news is that this is a highly energy-efficient house,” Taylor-Saghie said, “so her utility payments won't be too high. And she's applied for a solar panel through GRID Alternatives, which will make them even lower.”

The home has a Home Energy Rating System rating of 57, which will go down when the solar panel is installed. (A standard new home has a rating of 100.) Taylor-Saghie said the energy-efficiency rating costs an additional $2,500 in reporting and about $12,000 in materials to achieve that rating, which is more than recovered over the 30-year mortgage.

Investment in community

One $25 donation can impact a number of households, Taylor-Saghie said, because when a homeowner pays it back via a mortgage payment into the Habitat Mortgage Fund, it's available to be used to build the next home.

“And if the family sells the house, a portion of the equity comes back to us, too,” she said.

As housing costs in La Plata County continue to rise, more and more hardworking residents are finding it hard to stay here.

“In 2011, 42 percent of La Plata County households fell within the guidelines (to qualify) for a Habitat house,” Taylor-Saghie said. “In just three years, that's up to 51.5 percent. We run the risk of turning into a Breckenridge or Vail, where everyone has to live far away.”

Families of four that make $44,000 or less fall within the guidelines, she said.

“Families are what make this community in so many ways,” Taylor-Saghie said. “How can we retain a workforce when businesses are having a hard time affording to pay people because they're crunched by real estate costs, too?”

abutler@durangoherald.com

To learn more

Visit www.habitatlaplata.org to learn more about Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County.

Tax-deductible donations may be sent to Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County, 120 Girard St., Suite E, Durango, CO 81303.



Reader Comments