“I feel like housing is my heart,” Valencia says. Growing up, she watched her father, who emigrated from Mexico, work tirelessly for their family. She remembers the instability of moving often and struggling to afford rent.
Her father bought a home when she was 15, giving her stability and hope to do the same.
As a Homeownership Counselor with Native American Youth and Family Center, Valencia is committed to sharing that hope. She left her realty career because she didn’t see her community represented, even among her clients.
“They were purchase-ready, already had lenders, good credit … and it wasn’t anybody that looked like me, my family, or anybody I knew.”
In 2024, the average white household could afford a home in four Portland neighborhoods, according to the State of Housing in Portland report. For the average Black and Latine households, that number drops to zero.
Priced out of her dream
Despite the fulfillment of helping others access homeownership, Valencia was still priced out of buying a home herself. Born and raised in North Portland, she moved to Lake Oswego six years ago to give her son Andrew, now 13, access to Oregon’s best schools.
Andrew is thriving in Lake Oswego, busy with sports and friends. Valencia says he’s so beloved that several families consider him “a second son.”
When Andrew started asking if they could buy a home, she told him it wasn’t possible. As a single mother spending much of each paycheck on rent and facing average home prices over a million dollars, her dream would have to wait.
When she found out Habitat was building a community in Lake Oswego, everything changed. Trying not to get her son’s hopes up, she applied.
Her own open door
Valencia was driving to a conference when she got the call: she was approved to buy a home. She immediately called Andrew. He was so excited that she saw him fall out of his chair on FaceTime, she recalls.
“Telling him was one of the best moments of my life,” she says. “It means so much to give him that stability.”
Valencia has already met neighbors whose children will go to school with Andrew and looks forward to building a permanent community in Lake Oswego. More than anything, she’s excited to give her son the same certainty that her father’s home gave her.
“I’m excited to give my son that peace of mind.”
Help Frame a Future of possibilities
For Valencia, homeownership means providing her son with a future full of possibilities. That same hope should be within reach for more families.
Through Habitat’s Frame a Future campaign, we are raising $500,000 to help build 52 permanently affordable homes at Gooseberry Trails, our largest community yet in Hillsdale. Each home is a place where a child can settle in, a family can put down roots, and a dream that once felt impossible can become real.
Thanks to a generous donation match through September 30, your gift to Frame a Future can go twice as far. Learn more at: habitatportlandregion.org/frameafuture.
