Rhan Family

Felicia moved to Cleveland from Athens, Georgia 16 years ago to take care of her elderly mom. Her son still lives in Athens. Her child, Mackensie (Mac) and cat named, Kitty, live with her.

They’ve lived in the same apartment for 14 years. It's been hard to get repairs done, and it has gone downhill since. The people living above them have flooded their apartment about four times, causing mold and bad odors from the pets. The carpet hasn’t been replaced. Felicia tried to get them to fix Mackensie’s bedroom window, because there were ants flooding in. She finally went and got caulking herself and fixed it. None of the doors or windows are sealed and you can see out through the cracks. Needless to say, they are not living in a safe home.

Felicia is eager to stop paying high rent and is looking forward to owning a place to call home. The people who lived above her, the Rodriguez family, moved into a Habitat home in 2020. Mrs. Rodriguez brought down a card with Habitat's information and said, “You need to do this.” A couple months later, she applied. “I’m excited and I definitely cried when I found out we were accepted,” said Felicia. “It will be good to be paying for something of our own, rather than paying rent every month. We’ll have our own stuff and not have to worry about the landlord, and we can paint what we want and be more free. I haven’t owned a home since I was married 18 years ago. It will be nice to know what my bills are going to be month to month rather than prices going up and up and up.”

When talking about their ‘sweat equity’, Felicia mentioned that her dad built houses for a living. Unfortunately, she has Narcolepsy and needs to take naps during the day, so she’s unable to work. Her family is ready to jump in to help volunteer and fundraise. Mac will be putting in her hours and asking friends to help. She’s interested to see how creative she can be when building her home. She and Mac look forward to decorating their new walls.

Felicia is eager to learn by attending homeowner and budgeting classes. She is looking forward to of getting to know her new neighbors and is thankful for this, "great new beginning."