Patient family finally getting Habitat home

• Reprints

From the left the three Corral children, Yara 18, Evelyn 13, and Jayro 15, explore what will be their bedrooms once their father Angel is finished turning the basement around in their new home the received from Habitat from Humanity on Saturday February 5, 2012 in Aurora IL. | Terence Guider-Shaw~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 11, 2012 8:03AM

AURORA — Patience and perseverance have paid off for an Aurora family who have moved into their Habitat for Humanity home some four years after they were chosen for the program.

“It’s an unusual situation, but we found them a home to rent, and then it became available for a rehab,” said Jeff Barrett, pastor at Genesis Community Church in Montgomery, who serves as executive director with the Fox Valley Habitat for Humanity organization.

Moving into the home on Edgelawn Drive are Angel Corral, his wife Maria, and children Evelyn, Yara and Jayro. Grandmother Irma Almeraz also resides in the home.

The Corral family was selected to be recipients of a yet-to-be-built Habitat home in early 2008.

But, Barrett noted, it was also in 2008 that “businesses in the Fox Valley were hurting. It is picking up now.”

Late last year, the Corral family was still waiting to hear details of their new home when they received more troubling information — their rental home was foreclosed on.

“The person we rented the home from was a victim of the economy,” Angel said.

The Edgelawn Drive house became available just days after, when Habitat officials took the unusual step of renting a home for the family.

The family has moved into the home while the final rehabilitation work is in progress.

“This isn’t ideal, but in this situation we found a rental home that was also for sale,” Barrette said.

Future rehabilitation plans for the home include building three additional bedrooms, bathroom and family room in the unfinished basement. Upstairs the tile and carpet will be replaced. Once the interior projects are completed, work will begin on the outside with a coat of paint and work to repair or replace windows.

The project is expected to take about six months, and by that time the home will be like new.

“I am ecstatic, and this is overwhelming,” Angel Corral said.

“Faith never leaves — it is bittersweet, as someone has just lost their home. It is a blessing for us,” Maria said.

Maria said the decades of renting left the entire family with the desire to put down roots in the community. Angel said faith has brought the family to this point.

And the children are looking forward to having more space and a bright future.

Barrett said the Habitat for Humanity program is designed to bring affordable and adequate housing to the area.

“It is not a hand out, but a hand up,” he said.

Applicants for Habitat for Humanity homes must be willing to either work on their own or existing Habitat projects as well as qualify for a 20- to 25-year interest-free mortgage. All family members age 18 and older are required to contribute 200 hours per family member of sweat equity toward the completion of the home.

For information on Habitat for Humanity, visit foxvalleyhabitat.org.