TULARE — Miguel Lopez had dreams of moving his family into a Self-Help Enterprises home after his sister moved into one of her own.

Lopez turned in his application, hoping he would have the same luck his sister had and qualify.

That was six years ago.

"We got to move into a Self-Help home, but it was my sister's," Lopez said. "We had to move in with her because we couldn't make rent at our old place."

Lopez said his two daughters Naidey, 17, and Gelsey, 5, shared a bed, and his son Miguel had to share a bed with his nephew at his sister's house.

"It was pretty crowded, but we got through it," Lopez said. "I'm just glad my sister gave my family a place to stay."

Flash forward to the present: Lopez and his family will move into a new Self-Help home next week.

After years of turning in applications for the program, Lopez learned last summer that his family qualified for a Self-Help home.

"We had been waiting for that call for six years," Lopez said. "It was a case of keeping our faith and persevering."

Self-Help Enterprise which celebrated its 40th anniversary Friday, is a nonprofit group that helps improve living conditions for low-income residents throughout the San Joaquin Valley.

The organization helps families secure loans and build their American dream, but it also builds multifamily housing complexes and helps rehabilitate and reconstruct dilapidated housing. Self-Help also helps unincorporated communities repair and improve sewer and water connections.

Although Lopez received the good news last June, his work wasn't nearly done. Under Self-Help, families work for a year on a group of homes and use the labor, usually 40 hours per week, as the down payment on the new home, which they otherwise could not afford.

Generally, 10 to 12 families work together in a group during an eight-month construction period. Under supervision from Self-Help, the families dig and form foundations, pour and finish the concrete, frame the houses and install doors, windows, electrical wiring and cabinets, lay floor tile and paint inside and out.

"There was a tremendous amount of work involved, but it was nice to work with the other families who will eventually be your neighbors," Lopez said. "We all put in a lot of work and are very proud. I can look at my neighborhood and know that I helped build half the houses."

The Lopezes, along with 10 other families, started building their homes last June and recently have started to move in.

The houses are in southwest Tulare in the west Tulare redevelopment area off of Bardsley Avenue and south Santa Clara Street. It's an urban infill project, meaning the houses were built in established neighborhoods, said Peter Carey, executive director of Self-Help Enterprises.

"Self-Help along with the help of the Tulare Redevelopment Agency has helped build around 100 homes in Tulare over the last decade," Carey said.

In Lopez's neighborhood, more than 800 families were interested in the project, and Self-Help went through more than 200 applications to find the 11 who qualified, Carey said. Applicants must meet gross-income limits based on family size.

For a family of four, it's $39,300 a year.

"The whole process is lengthy but well worth the wait for most families," Carey said. "When the families are finished building their homes, they truly do live in a neighborhood they can take pride in."

Lopez said the wait has been tough, but now his family is excited to move in.

"My wife has already been thinking of ways to decorate the house," Lopez said. "My children are excited that they don't have to share a bed anymore. We have been getting ideas from some of the other neighbors who have already moved in."

One of those neighbors, Angela Gonzalez, is almost finished moving into her new home. However, she has one final duty before she feels completely moved in — a yard sale.

"My family feels like we have gotten a fresh start with this beautiful house," Gonzalez said. "We want to get rid of some of this old stuff."

Gonzalez, who turned in her first application 14 years ago, said she is proud of the work that all the neighbors have put in to the houses.

"All these families put in a lot of sweat into these homes," Gonzalez said. "It wasn't easy work, but I think this is the best thing that could happen for most of these families."

iThe reporter can be reached at jchernab@visalia.gannett.com.

Originally published July 23, 2005