Building a Future on Kelly and 13th
Habitat for Humanity nearing completion on Kelly Ave. in TD; Family of five to take occupancy
Rey Mendoza is all smiles as he fits a piece of vinyl flooring around a dryer vent connection in his new home at 800 E. 13th Street in The Dalles. He and his family of four “will finally have a home,” he said.
By Tom Peterson
Arron Good nudges some vinyl flooring together as finishing touches are going into the Habitat for Humanity house on Kelly Avenue in The Dalles. It will be home to the Mendoza family.
On Friday, Jan. 20, Aaron Good was using a chop saw to make a cut on a piece of vinyl flooring on the porch of the newest Habitat for Humanity Home at the corner of 13th Street and Kelly Avenue in The Dalles.
The house has gone up at a swift pace as volunteers from all over the Gorge put in long hours to make this next piece of the American dream come true.
They started pouring concrete in April and had a roof on the place before the first rains in the fall.
Why was Good there?
“I like working with my hands,” the 44-year-old said. “Affordable housing is a real problem. It’s aligned with my mission, and we all want to be here.”
It’s good camaraderie, he said, stating his work as a mental health counselor can be isolating at times.
The other reason? Well, he was inside the house.
His name is Rey Mendoza. And he will eventually own this home with his wife Veronica Gonzalez. On this morning, he was piecing together the vinyl flooring in a closet.
Mendoza said he had been putting sweat equity into the home for about 5 months.
The Mendoza family will eventually take possession of this home in the near future. The lot here has been subdivided, and Habitat will build an additional house to the north.
“I use to do some construction,” he said. “I like this kind of work.”
He and his wife currently live in a rental in Hood River, and the opportunity to buy did not exist until he learned of the Habitat home.
He is a Janitor with Gorge Office Detail.
With median home prices in The Dalles running around $340,000, a 20 percent down requires $68,000 upfront, and house payments, excluding insurance and taxes, come in at around $1,800 per month.
That’s too tall an order for most in the service industry.
But that’s where Habitat came in.
Habitat will carry the contract on the home loan at favorable rates.
Rey said he came home one day in Hood River last spring to find someone had put a flyer on his door about the Habitat project. “I called them to see what would happen and they actually called me,” he said a look of astonishment on his face.
Rey and Veronica have three other reasons to be overjoyed.
Three children - Carlos,15; Mauricio, 12 and Ariana, 9.
“It is very difficult to find a place in Hood River,” he said. “I feel very happy. The whole family is very happy. Veronica helps me here, a lot of days.”
“Finally, we will have a home,” he said.
Click here to read more about the Habitat Project here in our original story.
Past Columbia Gorge Habitat for Humanity President Don Wanzek and John Adams set an anchor back in April as they worked on setting forms for the stem wall foundation that now supports a three-bedroom, two-bath home at 800 E. 13th St., The Dalles. Volunteers drove in from White Salmon and Hood River to work on setting the foundation.
