TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 After years of working two jobs and saving money, an east Tampa single mother is celebrating a milestone she once thought was out of reach \u2014 becoming a homeowner.<\/p>\n
Deniseshia Numan purchased her first home through the City of Tampa’s Infill Housing Program with the help of multiple down payment assistance programs coordinated by the nonprofit Solita’s House.<\/p>\n
The home carried a sales price of $270,000. Through a combination of public and private funding, Numan’s mortgage was reduced to about $55,000, resulting in a monthly mortgage payment of just over $780.<\/p>\n
The financing package included $40,000 through the City of Tampa’s DARE program, $96,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, a $6,000 mortgage loan from Solita’s House, and a final $35,000 contribution from Warrick Dunn Charities.<\/p>\n
“I might be disabled, but I don’t let that define me,” Numan said.<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old, who has a hearing impairment, said buying a home represents years of determination and sacrifice for herself and her children.<\/p>\n
“I feel like a weight is off my shoulders like I’m becoming successful, I feel proud, I feel courage,” she said.<\/p>\n
Solita’s House CEO Aidza Antonio said the organization helped Numan layer multiple funding sources to make homeownership affordable.<\/p>\n
“It’s important to know what your city and your counties are doing with those government dollars,” Thomas said. “This is how you get someone to the realization of homeownership.”<\/p>\n
Thomas emphasized that financial assistance alone does not guarantee homeownership. She said buyers must still meet lending requirements by maintaining steady employment, building savings, and establishing good credit.<\/p>\n
Numan’s real estate agent, Angela Fullwood, said the transaction highlighted the discipline required to purchase a home.<\/p>\n
“Until closing, you can’t go make big purchases. You have to save. All your ducks have to be in a row,” Fullwood said. “For her, that sacrifice that she made, being a single mom and deaf and hard of hearing, we were determined.”<\/p>\n
In addition to financial assistance, Warrick Dunn Charities furnished Numan’s new home as part of its long-running program that helps first-time homebuyers transition into homeownership.<\/p>\n
“You just got to trust God. When it’s your time, it’s your time,” Numan said.<\/p>\n
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Solita’s House, a Tampa-based nonprofit that provides financial education, housing counseling, and homeownership assistance programs designed to help families build long-term wealth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 After years of working two jobs and saving money, an east Tampa single mother is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[28924,16022,274,2375,115,135,137,136,278,835],"class_list":["post-344029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-ach-housing","tag-app-housing","tag-app-top-stories","tag-fadia-patterson","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}