From Extended Stay to a Home

The Hernandez family experienced financial problems six years ago when the husband, George, lost his job. As a result, he and his family were evicted from their apartment in Duluth. George, his wife Garcia, and two teenage children moved into a single motel room at Norcross Extended Stay and lived there for over 6 years.  Because they were model tenants, they were successfully able to negotiate a discounted monthly rate. They remained in the motel because they felt it was manageable within their limited budget.

George and Garcia both have stable full-time jobs. Garcia is employed as a patient relations representative and George was recently promoted to manager at a commercial collections company where he has been employed for over two years. During this time their son graduated from high school, got a job, and moved out on his own.  Their daughter is an outstanding senior at her high school, and will graduate with a 4.9 GPA along with being a recipient of a Georgia Hope Scholarship and another academic scholarship for nursing school. She accomplished all of this while studying and doing homework each day on her bed in the motel room.

Both Garcia and George were accepted into the SVdP Georgia Motel to Home (M2H) pilot program this year. Since joining the program, they have attended self-sufficiency workshops and met with the Hispanic Center for Financial Excellence. They’ve also created a family budget, initiated a payment plan to begin paying off some of their long standing debt, and accumulated a small amount of savings.

The biggest accomplishment since joining the program though has been the ability to finally move out of their extended stay motel room. The Hernandez family recently moved into a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath townhome in Norcross. When asked how they wanted to spend their first night in their new home, they laughed and answered, “In separate rooms!”