Salvation Army program gives parents the path to homeownership

SOUTHERN INDIANA — Memphis mom Kayla Yager has been through a lot, but she keeps pushing forward.

That’s why she’s part of the Salvation Army’s Pathway of Hope program where she’s working with her husband to become a homeowner.

“To actually get in a home, we’ve worked so hard to get, so hard to just create (that for) our family it would just feel so successful,” Yager said. “Like we’ve done something and nailed it. Nothing can take it from us. Everything we’ve been through at this point was 100% what we were supposed to go through to get to this point.”

She has her friend and mentor Alecha Redmond to thank for the tip about the program.

Redmond helped the 26-year-old achieve her diploma at the Excel Center and now, they’re working on another dream together.

“Me, personally, I took the GED as a cop-out, it’s just a piece of paper saying, ‘Oh now I can move forward,’” Yager said. “I said no, I want to strive. I want to be educated and get the high school education knowing that I did what I wanted to do...knowing that if I can expect my children to have these goals, I have to prove them myself.”

Since January she’s been working with Redmond at the Salvation Army in New Albany to get where her family needs to be to have their dream home for their four kids.

“We live in Memphis right now, where we have a mile-long driveway, we got about two acres as well,” Yager said. “We want at least a room for everybody, at least five acres. We are working on that with Alecha.”

Redmond is touching the lives of about 25 families in Southern Indiana through this program.

“So Pathway of Hope is a program that offers hope for future investments. It talks about how coming out of poverty, one of the easiest ways to do that is purchasing a home,” Redmond said. “You can pay rent all day, at the end of paying rent 12 months you might get your security deposit back and that’s it...one day if you choose to leave the home you walk away with what you invested and so much more.”

To qualify for the program participants need to have at least one minor child living with them and live in Crawford, Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott or Washington counties.

“I have never met a stranger. I go out and find people and I don’t care if I’m in a store, I could be anywhere and I am going to talk to people about Pathway and try to connect this program to people who can utilize it,” she said.

The first thing Redmond has participants do depends on where they are in the journey to home ownership.

For people who are homeless, they work together to get some kind of permanent housing.

For people who are renting, it’s time to start budgeting for both where they are now and where they want to be in the future.

“(Then) I make them go find a house that is maybe their dream house, or a house they see themselves in, and make them do a budget for that,” she said. “If I can see where they are and where they’re trying to go, I can connect their steps from there.”

The program does provide a small stipend for participants, which can be used in a variety of ways for things like a home-inspection fee.

Although it doesn’t help people with large-ticket items, like a down payment, the amount of work Redmond does and knowledge she and other players are able to share, is priceless.

“Any opportunity I can get to help people, I’m passionate about it,” Redmond said. “If I don’t buy into the program, I can’t sell it. Because I’m a homeowner in Southern Indiana. I moved here 10 years ago and one of my first achievements is buying a home...I am familiar with the hurdles homeowners go through.”

Soon-to-be homeowner Michelle Copeland said she is looking forward to doing DIY projects in the New Albany home she’s in the process of purchasing through the program.

“I am tired of paying other people’s mortgage,” she said. “If you own it, it’s yours and you can do what you want with it.”

Her kids have already picked out their rooms in the four-bedroom, two-bath home in Floyd County.

She said the process of buying a home through Pathway of Hope has been supportive thanks to Redmond.

“Alecha gives so much assistance and will answer her phone at any time,” Copeland said. “She showed up at the home inspection review with me (last week) and went over it.”

Copeland said all of the people involved with the program are helpful.

“The home loan agency and the officer I’m working with is wonderful and she will go through your credit and tell you, this is what you need to do to get where you need to be and she will wait,” Copeland said. “She’s not pushy...she just waits.”

For participant Elizabeth Lockhart, the program has helped her raise her credit score to the 700s, which will help her secure her home.

“So I was able to get a pre-approval to buy a home and the roadblock now is what I need size-wise costs more than what I’m approved for,” Lockhart said. “So our next step when I meet with Alecha is we are trying to see about getting more income to get a higher loan approval.”

Lockhart said she is looking to be a homeowner so she and her kids can have their own space. They made an offer on a home and it didn’t work out, but she’s hopeful.

“You don’t know if you don’t try,” Lockhart said. “...I started when I got a car loan last year. I didn’t think it was possible and they said OK. By me doing that, I got to the 600 point and we got it up to the 720 point, where I was able to get the house. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, to find out the information.”