Help Start Construction on Simple, Decent Housing

Habitat homeowner Cinnamon has a knack for decoration. Whether she’s putting the final touches on a cake or styling an outfit, she does it all with an artist’s mind. Now she gets to put her art into decorating her very own home. 

“I want bright, I want different,” Cinnamon said. “Anything that comes with art, decorating, fashion, all that, I love it.”  

Cinnamon and her 27-year-old daughter, Nesha, are co-owners of their new Habitat home in southeast Portland. They received their keys the day before Christmas Eve, and they moved in as soon as they could, in January. 

Before moving to their new community, they had lived in a Portland affordable housing unit for 25 years. Cinnamon said she had always wanted to own her own home but didn’t think she would be able to after medical issues forced her to stop working in 2010.   

She heard about Habitat for Humanity several years ago through word of mouth but didn’t apply for a home until much later. When she and her daughter finally applied together in 2021, they found out they would become homeowners.  

“I was so excited. I mean, I literally wanted to cry,” Cinnamon remembers. “I did cry here a couple of times. When I first got over here with my keys, I couldn’t believe it. Sometimes I don’t think it’s real.” 

Cinnamon was born and raised in north Portland, and her whole family and circle of friends still live in the area. Her parents always kept a clean and organized home, a habit Cinnamon now maintains in her own.  

 The home isn’t just tidy and organized, it’s also adorned with vibrant splashes of color that reflect the good taste and lively spirit of the mother and daughter who live there.  

Cinnamon’s favorite part of her home is the spacious island in the kitchen. True to her name, she’s a passionate baker, and always wanted a kitchen like this in her home. While she favors baking cakes and cupcakes for the decorating potential, she is also known to dabble in cookies, pound cakes, and pies.  

Cinnamon isn’t the only one in the neighborhood who can produce masterpieces in the kitchen; her neighbors often bring by homemade goodies as well. Although homeowners have only recently started to move into the southeast Portland community, it’s already a tight-knit community where people share phone numbers and know the names of their neighbors.  

“I also like this community because it’s diverse,” Cinnamon said. “You’ve got a little bit of everybody in here.” 

Cinnamon and Nesha may have lived in their previous housing unit for 25 years, but Cinnamon said she doesn’t miss a thing. She was more than ready for the change. “I came in here with 10 toes to the pavement,” she said with a laugh. “I ain’t going nowhere ‘til the good lord calls me home.”