Tamara Harris
Tamara moved to Eugene in 1994, a single mom of four and homeless. Her family lived in their car until getting into a homeless shelter where they lived for almost three months. Finding a rental was very difficult. On welfare and Section 8, Tamara was able to go to college to get a teaching degree, but for financial reasons she had to quit school and get a job. She had three student loans, four maxed out credit cards, a computer loan, and a car loan. She was able to land a job selling computers but then lost all of her government cash assistance and most of her food stamps. As her income went up, her portion of the rent went up and she had to pay for food and for childcare. The more money she made, the harder it was to get by.

A turning point for Tamara was the Family Self Sufficiency Program (FSS), offered by the Housing and Community Services Agency of Lane County. Her participation in FSS enabled her to save money and get off government assistance, savings that she would later put towards the down payment on her home. Through that program she also learned about NEDCO and met with the Home Ownership Counselor, who worked with her to create an action plan to pay off her credit cards and loans, build up her savings, and connect with various down payment assistance programs to help with the down payment and closing costs of her NEDCO-built home, which she purchased in 2001. Tamara has become very active in her neighborhood over the past few years and currently serves as the President and Treasurer of the Homeowners Association.

Tamara believes that "The Threshold Program is the perfect program for people that are considering buying a home. Threshold teaches you what it really takes to own your own house. You learn it is not all a piece of cake. It is hard work and will take a lot of commitment. Owning a house is not for everyone. This is why it is good to be involved in Threshold so that you can learn about what it takes and decide whether or not it is for you. When getting through the program, if you still want to buy a house, you are even more exited and committed to do it than when you started."