Habitat for Humanity Presents Three East Palo Alto Families with New Homes

Three families in East Palo Alto were presented with keys to their new homes Tuesday morning, thanks to the local nonprofit.

Three local women--a teaching assistant, a deli manager, and a nonprofit worker--are now the owners of newly renovated homes in East Palo Alto, one of the places hardest hit in the Bay Area during the foreclosure crisis, organizers said.

Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco started the Neighborhood Revitalization Program in 2009 in response to the foreclosure crisis. Through NRP, the organization acquires bank-owned homes and rehabilitates them. Local working families then buy the homes with no down payment and zero-interest mortgages after completing homeownership training and 500 hours of sweat equity, working on the homes alongside hundreds of volunteers. The NRP has completed, renovated, or planned 18 homes to date, organizers said.

East Palo Alto Mayor Carlos Romero joined nonprofit officials and the three new homeowners and their children at Tuesday morning's ceremony.

- Bay City News