ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. — After four years of serving in the Navy, Ernest Jordan is trading his sailor’s cap for a hard hat.
He and his wife, Mandy, tell Action News Jax they struggled to find an affordable place for their family to live after Ernest’s time at Mayport, but now they’re building their own home in their ideal neighborhood.
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“Coming out here, seeing the work get done, we sometimes think, ‘Oh, I put that wall up. Those boards behind that wall? I put those up,’” Ernest Jordan said.
The Jordan family said they’ve been wanting to live in Atlantic Beach both for the location and the schooling options for their kids. But for their family of four, Beaches Habitat for Humanity said they’d need to make around $97,300 to comfortably support themselves, which hasn’t been something they’ve been able to do.
“It was really complicated. We just got down, felt like we’d try, just got discouraged, figured we’d try again later, you know?” Ernest Jordan said.
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But it was through Beaches Habitat for Humanity that Mandy discovered a way to allow their family to live in an Atlantic Beach home: by building it themselves.
“It can be expensive to live in this area, so I feel like this is just a blessing for me and my family,” Mandy Jordan said.
Their home is the first of a 44-home community on Mayport Road that Beaches Habitat for Humanity first broke ground on last June.
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The nonprofit said each homeowner has to put a minimum of 300 hours of work into building their homes as a requirement to live in them, something it calls “sweat equity.” The Jordan family said they’re grateful to own a home they’ve not only, literally, fought for, but have made with their own hands.
“I’ve cried, I’ve been so emotional, but like, happy tears, like tears of joy,” Mandy Jordan said. “We’ve been praying for this for so long.”
Beaches Habitat for Humanity hasn’t shared when it expects the community to be complete. People looking to own a home through the nonprofit have to fill out an online application to be considered, which you can do by clicking here.
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