Homeownership by 30: One Family’s West Pullman Journey

Unika has always wanted to own her own home since she was little. Little did she know that moving to the West Pullman neighborhood in 2011 was an important step towards her homeownership dream and becoming the role model she always wanted herself. 

When Unika was pregnant with her first-born, finding the best place to raise her family was her priority. She was a single parent without any help and needed to find a community that could support her and her child’s needs. She settled in West Pullman because it provided everything she wanted: daycares, schooling with a diverse student population and curriculum, and programs that could support her and her soon-to-be son. As she started this new chapter in her life, she made it her goal to become a homeowner by 30 years old. 

After moving and having two more children, she earned her education degree and started teaching in the neighborhood too. Unika pursued teaching because it gave her purpose and a way to give back to her community.

“I just love empowering kids. Educating them and building those relationships—being the person that I needed when I was growing up. These kids in the school, they need that auntie, that mother figure, or that cousin to empower them.” 

That said, when asked what she enjoys doing outside of work, she answered without any hesitation, “Being a mother is the top profession for me, and giving back to my family." Unika gets every chance she can to spend time with her children Michael, Malachi, and Maddison. She loves her kids deeply and, like her students, she wants to provide them the things she didn’t have growing up. 

In 2022, Unika’s family of four was outgrowing their two-bedroom apartment. Her babies were approaching their tween years and needed their own space. Having grown up sharing a room with four others, she knew the impact having their own rooms could have. She wanted to give them that experience and more. She was ready to buy a home. 

“My motivation to own a home was to have a foundation and a solid roof over my family. I didn’t want them worrying about where we were going to go anymore,” she recalled. 

But moving had the possibility of uprooting the life she had built in West Pullman over the last decade. Her job, her children’s school, and their friends were firmly in the neighborhood. Becoming a homeowner would already bring many more responsibilities and change—keeping the existing support systems if possible would make homebuying exceptionally smoother. 

One day, she stumbled upon a Habitat Chicago construction site, and she had to learn more. She found out that Habitat Chicago’s Affordable Homeownership Program would enable her to purchase a newly constructed home with an affordable mortgage, stay in West Pullman, and create financial stability for her family. The home available to purchase in West Pullman even provided everyone in her family their very own bedroom. She jumped on that opportunity as soon as she could. 

She was working towards a graduate degree in education at the time and gave it her best shot. Her application to the program was denied due to her finances not meeting requirements, but instead of being a deterrent, it motivated her more. She worked harder, graduated, and secured a job with higher pay. After applying for the second time, she was accepted and ever closer to fulfilling her dream of homeownership. She spent eight months learning how to be a successful homeowner through Habitat Chicago, investing about 200 hours volunteering on the build site, meeting some of her fellow homebuyers and owners, and receiving one-on-one support through the process. 

Months before she turned 30 in 2024, Unika closed on her home. She was so proud to complete her long-awaited goal and provide her family with everything she had always wanted for herself at their age. Her kids were ecstatic about the new place, running around and claiming their rooms. Having a space to call their own was so valuable and one of their favorite parts of the house. 

They’ve been loving to play in their own backyard; and now that they have the space for it, they would love to get a basketball hoop or trampoline, like some of their neighbors. They are eager to befriend more kids on the block who have been friendly to them since they’ve moved in. Similarly, Unika is excited to get to know her neighbors and build upon her existing West Pullman community. 

“Community is a place where you belong, where you feel safe, where you feel united. My big step here to build community is just getting to know my neighbors. And that could be through the simplest things just by speaking and saying good morning every day, us looking out for each other, and letting each other know what's going on,” she said. 

It was no simple feat for Unika to set this big goal and accomplish it, given the setbacks. Perseverance, hard work, and finesse were necessary to juggle so many priorities at once, but after investing so much in herself, her family, and her community, Unika now sees the support she was looking for 13 years ago.