Valencia was 15 years old when her father bought their family’s first home. That moment has shaped her entire life.
“When it happened, it really created hope in me that I could possibly buy a house one day,” she says.
Today, breaking down barriers to homeownership is her mission. Valencia is a homeownership counselor with Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) and an advocate for affordable housing.
“When there’s legislative days of action, you’ll find me lobbying or down at the Capitol trying to figure out how to make housing affordable for folks,” she says.
Despite her deep connection to housing, she didn’t think homeownership would be a possibility for herself. That changed in June, when she was approved for a home in Habitat’s West Lake Grove community.
“I feel like housing is my heart,” Valencia says.
It’s easy to see why: growing up, Valencia watched her father who emigrated from Mexico work tirelessly to provide for their family. She recalls a feeling of instability that came with moving often. Watching her father purchase a home helped set her path, she says.
The housing gap
Valencia became a Realtor in 2020, helping her father sell their first family home to purchase a second one with her expertise and translation. But she immediately felt a gap in the industry. She didn’t see her community represented anywhere.
Purchasing a home was pivotal for her family, and she didn’t feel like anyone understood how much it meant to them. Helping her own clients, Valencia didn’t feel like she was making the impact that she wanted.
“They were purchase-ready, already had lenders, good credit, pre-approval — and it wasn’t anybody that looked like me, my family, or anybody I knew. And I was like dang, what’s going on?”
According to the latest State of Housing in Portland report, the average white household could afford to purchase a home in four Portland neighborhoods in 2024. For the average Black and Latine households, that number drops to zero.
Determined to address this gap, Valencia searched for a new path. A friend of hers who already worked for NAYA connected her with the Homeownership Counselor position. Currently going on her fourth year in the role, Valencia has found the perfect place to apply her passion.
“I realized this is exactly where the gap is: housing counseling.”
Sacrificing affordability for opportunity
Valencia’s passion for supporting others goes beyond housing. Born and raised in North Portland, she moved to Lake Oswego six years ago to give her son access to the best public education she could find.
But finding affordable rentals in the area is challenging. And trying to buy a market rate home is out of the question for many.
In 2022, the average sale price for a home in Lake Oswego was $1,075,000, according to the city’s most recent Housing Needs Analysis.
To put that in perspective, 58% of housing in Lake Oswego is only affordable to those earning at least $125,000 per year. Only 9% of housing is affordable for those earning $50,000 or less.
She says that even though she makes a “decent living” and feels “blessed” in her professional role, the market in her area is just not accessible as a single parent.
“It’s insane that you can be a housing counselor and help folks get into a home, but you can’t afford a home. I think a lot of us in the housing industry are like that. We help and advocate and help get folks into homes, and then we ourselves can’t get into homes and it’s sad.”
New possibilities
As soon as she heard a Habitat community would be coming to Lake Oswego, she knew she had to apply. She did everything she could think of to prepare, and she was ready as soon as the applications opened.
Still, she didn’t want to get her or her son Andrew’s hopes up. Applications are reviewed by random lottery numbers to give everyone a fair shot, and she knew West Lake Grove was a popular community. So, she says, she just waited and tried not to get attached to an outcome.
When she got the news that her application was approved, the first thing she did was FaceTime her son to share the good news.
“Telling him was one of the best moments of my life,” she says. “It means so much to be able to give him that stability.”
Paving the way
Now, she is excited to for her homeownership journey to inspire her son and the people she works with.
“I want to make sure that whatever I’m doing is promoting that hope in him to know that you can go out there and be anything, and do anything, and it won’t be easy — but it can be done.”
“Now I have an experience to share with my clients and community members,” she explains.
Even with her expertise, Valencia says she is already learning new things from her homeownership classes with Habitat. She was excited to take her first class on mortgage insurance, something she had never navigated herself.
“There’s a lot of support, I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” she says.
As her future unfolds, Valencia is ready to get even more involved with advocacy and policy work.
“I love it because I don’t come from that background of having the language and knowledge to be able to go and speak to senators and representatives, and I think it’s important for voices like mine to be heard in those spaces,” she says.
“Housing should be a right. Affordable housing is health.”
