For the Littlejohns, Ownership Goes with a New Life
John and Alberta Littlejohn are not typical homeowners. Just a few years ago, John, a disabled veteran, was homeless and addicted to drugs. “The drugs and my life as an addict brought me to my knees,” John admits. “If the lifestyle didn’t kill me, the drug dealers would.” While in recovery he met Alberta, who is also a recovering addict and a breast cancer survivor. “We have the same dreams, the same beliefs and faith in God,” says Alberta. Once they had achieved their challenging goals of sobriety, they married, and became active members of the Tried Stone Missionary Baptist Church.
John and Alberta saw owning their own home as both the means to and the result of their newfound stability. Their pastor referred them to a local housing fair, where Grace Hines, a Financial and Housing Counselor at Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Western North Carolina helped start the couple on the path to homeownership. “It is our goal to formulate and prepare a budget they will be able to live on so they are set up to succeed and not fail,” says Ms. Hines.
The Littlejohns had few assets and virtually no savings. But they had been paying their bills on time and they were managing their debt effectively. And they persevered. Neighborhood Housing Services of Asheville built the Littlejohns an energy-efficient System Vision© home and put together a subsidy package that reduced their costs by more than 30%. And, with a low, fixed-rate, 30-year mortgage from Self-Help, the Littlejohns were able to afford their first home.
Today the Littlejohns love their house and their life in it. They’re proud of their own hard work and perseverance, and grateful to the coalition that helped them achieve their dream. John has taken on a leadership role in their neighborhood. Once seeming to have no future at all, the couple can now see five, ten years down the road, washing their car in their own driveway, mowing their own lawn, creating the garden that Alberta has always wanted. As John says, “If I can go from carrying everything I own in a bag on my back to owning a home, the possibilities are limitless.”
