Meet Hugo and Valeria

Valeria felt optimistic from the beginning, even if the odds seemed long. After all, Hugo and Valeria’s story has always been one of unlikely circumstances.

There was their missed connection, early in their university careers in Mexico, only to be reunited on the last day of school. The fellowship that brought them to Southern California for Hugo’s Engineering PhD, surviving on a stipend that only covered rent, and some meager savings to their name.

Then, there was the time Valeria stopped to read the sign outside Esperanza Place on her way to pick up Hugo from the BART station. That’s when Valeria’s positive attitude convinced a more wary Hugo to take a chance and apply for Habitat’s Homeownership Program.

“I’ve always felt like owning a home would help us build equity, having something in the future where the girls, when they grow up, they can always rely on a place,” Hugo says. When they saw what down payments and mortgages looked like in the area, though, he says, “We didn’t even bother.”

Today, they've just become homeowners at Esperanza Place – mere minutes from their previous apartment – Hugo and Valeria and their two daughters are all feeling optimistic. 

“An important part of having a place of our own in a community that we know, where we have spent the last 10 years of our lives, where we work, where the kids go to school – it will make us feel more a sense of belonging, more community," Hugo says. "As opposed to renting and always feeling that it can go away at any time. It doesn’t feel that we’re anchored to the community.”

Valeria is excited to be just around the corner from the school where she works, Hugo just steps from his BART commute to work in San Francisco. Renata, age 17, and Natalia, age 15, having the space and privacy of their own bedrooms. Renata’s space decked out in pink with found treasures from local vintage shops, Natalia’s a cozy den where she can relax.

There are the simpler pleasures, too. “I can’t wait to do the laundry anytime I want!” laughs Valeria, eager for a washer and dryer she doesn’t have to share with other tenants. “And my sofa. I’ll know this is my place. After a long day at work, with the girls, everything else, we can just sit at the table, have dinner together, talk about our day, and just rest.”

For this family, “home” is really any time they can be together, the four of them, whether it’s around the table, on a hike, out for movies and ice cream, or exploring local museums. But now, that word has the permanence of stability, of a rooted neighborhood, of a long future they can visualize in a house and community they love. 

“Esperanza,” Hugo points out, “it means ‘hope’ in English... it sounds right to me, definitely.”