For years, Renee and Jason Ridgway dreamed of owning a home in the Bay Area, but the path seemed impossible. After the 2008 housing crash, they faced skyrocketing rents, job uncertainty, and limited savings. “Foreclosures were everywhere, rents were skyrocketing, and everyone seemed to be losing their homes.” They moved nine times in their early years as a couple, living month-to-month, and even moving in with family to stay afloat. When they began seriously searching for a home, Renee was pregnant with their first child. Over the next three years, as they researched options and waited for the right moment, their family grew. By the time they were ready to buy, they were raising two small children, a three-year-old and a baby, making stability and space feel more urgent than ever.
For three years, they researched options, determined to buy a home when the time was right. “We didn’t have a large down payment, and we wanted to be reasonable about our monthly payments.” When Renee discovered Housing Trust Silicon Valley’s Mortgage Assistance Program (MAP), everything changed. She attended a first-time homebuyer education course and connected with a real estate agent through the program. What stood out most was the security the 30-year MAP loan offered at a time when adjustable-rate mortgages were causing families to lose their homes. “If we were going to do this, we needed to be smart about it and not just think short term,” Renee reflected. After years of uncertainty, the Ridgways finally had a path forward. The process with Housing Trust took about five months—short compared to the years they had spent searching. They purchased a 3 bedroom, 2 bath single-family home in Gilroy with support from their MAP loan in July 2012. “I truly do not believe we would be homeowners without the Housing Trust,” Renee Reflected.
It changed the whole trajectory of our lives.
The stability of owning a home allowed Renee to stay home with her children part-time, return to school for her associate degree, and later advance her career. “Owning our home allowed us to do that. It was tight being on one income a lot of the time, but the predictability knowing a rent wasn’t going to increase and our low mortgage—even to this day it’s never gone above $2,000—made a difference in our finances and financial future.” Since then, they’ve refinanced their first loan, paid off the Housing Trust loan, and no longer have to keep the home owner-occupied, opening up new financial possibilities for renting or leveraging the property in the future.
Beyond finances, homeownership gave them a sense of belonging. “What I wanted so much from a home was to be able to host people.” For years, Renee had gone to family and friends’ homes for gatherings and longed to reciprocate. “Being able to host someone and feed a group was something I always wanted. Hosting Christmas dinner—all those things made me feel like we were equals, like I could offer the same invitation to the people I loved that they extended to me.”
Their home quickly became a hub for connection. From the start, Renee and Jason embraced their neighborhood, introducing themselves to neighbors, building friendships, and finding ways to participate in community life. Their children’s elementary school was within walking distance, and over time, they built deep relationships with their neighbors and community. “Now we probably have 10 people on my block that I could call if I left my garage door open or if we want to meet up in the neighborhood and hang out. It completely changed our experience as community members.”
Those early years of neighborhood walks and school drop-offs have given way to a new chapter: their children are now preparing for college. That milestone underscores how long they’ve enjoyed the stability of homeownership—and how much security it provides for the future. “Our kids are looking at college… if we really are stuck and it’s year four and we’re running out of funds, we can rent out a room if we need to. We can leverage this privilege we have of owning our home.”
They’ve also invested in the property over time. For example, a couple of years after purchasing, Housing Trust reached out to let them know they qualified for a home improvement grant. “As a MAP loan recipient, that meant we got our home in foreclosure [and it had a lot of deferred maintenance]. We put in a lot of sweat equity, but there were things we couldn’t afford to tackle right away. The biggest was the exterior—the peeling paint on wood siding was a risk. When Housing Trust told us about the grant, we applied and were able to repaint the house. It completely changed how it looked and helped it blend in with the neighborhood instead of standing out.” That upgrade reinforced their pride in homeownership and deepened their sense of belonging.
Today, their home is worth three times what they paid for it, creating a foundation for generational wealth. “Would I be open to passing it down? Absolutely. I hope we are always able to keep it. We could keep this home, rent it out, and use that income to fund our adventures. I hope that we never have to sell it.”
“We are just so grateful. I cannot overstate that I do not believe we would be homeowners without Housing Trust.” For Renee and Jason, the MAP program didn’t just make homeownership possible—it opened doors to stability, community, and opportunity that will last for generations.