CityView Magazine

H elping your family find not just a house... but a home 2212 Hope Mills Road | Fayetteville, NC | 910.426.1299 Come Visit Us! www.PeachHouses.com An evening of food, fun, festivities, and the Oscars! Sunday, March 7, 2010 7:00 pm until.... Arts Center & Cameo Theatre Downtown Fayetteville Reserve Your Tickets Now! For more information: (910) 867-9700 A benefit for Partnership for Children of Cumberland County E ve n i n g w it h t h e S t a rs 60 | Feb/Mar • 2010 The funny thing is, Women's Center Director Sylvia Ray never imagined that the center would even have a housing program. But Ray quickly discovered that it was difficult to help the people who came through her doors if they did not have an affordable, even safe, place to live. "How can you make it?" she would ask her clients, "Your children aren't safe." Lease to Home was born. In the past decade, the Women's Center has purchased 61 homes, transforming 40 families into homeowners. Cindy Martinez is one of them. Just 10 years ago, no one would have believed Martinez could go from drug addict to substance abuse counselor, least of all herself. But she came to North Carolina in search of a fresh start in 2002. That's when she met Chris Gonzales. Gonzales has an official title at the Women's Center: housing director. But on any given day, she is part house hunter, real estate agent, loan officer, credit counselor, bully and cheerleader. "I'm their landlord, their best friend, their worst enemy. 'She's tough, but I love her,' that's what they say. To me, that's the greatest feeling in the world." Step by step, Gonzales helps her clients rebuild credit history, set goals, make a budget and save. When they're ready to become homeowners, she points them to the professionals – the actual bankers and loan officers she has spent years cultivating. And one day, she's there when a client signs on the dotted line. For Cindy Martinez, that moment came in 2006. "I still get up some nights and walk into my living room … and say, 'This is my home. I still can't believe I have my home, that somebody gave me a chance." Sylvia Ray hopes people understand the dire need for affordable housing in Fayetteville. Working families resort to unsafe living conditions because of high rents or poor credit, she says. "I couldn't even rent a decent house," says Faith Hilliard, another person helped through the Lease to Home program. "Thank God for the Women's Center.'" Gonzales says that is the payoff. "To me, that's the greatest feeling in the world. It makes me feel good making a difference in people's life." CV

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