A place to call home

Photo: Nicholas Johansen

The Nixon family showing off their new key rack outside their new home.

Two Okanagan families will be making monthly payments towards a mortgage rather than rent starting in February, thanks to Habitat for Humanity and the hard work of hundreds of volunteers.

The Nixon and Salaly families were given keys to their new homes in Peachland Saturday, after thousands of volunteer hours and tens of thousands of dollars of donations went into the homes.

Priscila and Westin Nixon, with their three and half year old son Elijah and a new baby due in June, were given keys to one of the new units in the duplex.

Westin grew up in Peachland, with nine other siblings, and said he’s excited he will be able to raise his family in the same place he was raised.

Westin met Priscila, who is originally from Mexico, on Facebook, and she moved to Canada five years ago.

“It is great, my whole life we have been renting and now we are home owners so it’s great,” said Priscila.

Elijah ran around the parking lot as the key handing over ceremony was taking place, full of energy and enthusiasm.

“Thank you!” he shouted when the microphone was passed down to him.

The Nixon family is moving right next door to Westin’s brother, Travis, who moved his family into the first Habitat for Humanity duplex on the property in November.

“It’s right beside my brother, my brother actually lives in 102, and his (Elijah’s) cousin, who is just a half a year older than him, lives right there,” said Westin. “So he’ll be able to grow up around his cousin and get to know him more.”

The other unit went to Sandra Salaly and her 12-year-old daughter Cami. The Salalys had been renting from a social housing complex in Peachland for the last six years and Sandra was overjoyed they now have a place to call their own.

“I have a home now,” she said.

The families are not required to put a down payment on the homes and they pay their mortgage off monthly.

Additionally, the families are required to put in 500 hours of work into the building of the homes.

Westin said he took on more of that responsibility than Priscila, as she has had her own things to worry about.

“Me more than her, because she’s been pregnant and going through morning sickness and all that, but we’ve put in the man hours,” he said.

The criteria Habitat for Humanity uses to choose suitable candidates for the homes include need, having a regular income and having children.

A third duplex, on the same property as the first two, will be built in the coming months, with an expected completion of fall 2016.