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HOMEOWNER STORY
From left to right: David Garcia Galindo, Sofia Garcia Galindo, and Daelen Gates outside their home at Village Gardens. (Photo/Gurjot Kang)
Meet Some of Homestead’s Youngest First-Time Homeowners:
The Garcia Galindo-Gates Family Story
Daelen Gates’ family has strong ties to Seattle’s Central District (CD). One of seven siblings, Daelen grew up in his parents’ house in the CD, just a few blocks from where he lives now.
“My mom said that when she was growing up in this community, she knew all of her neighbors, a lot of them were Black and brown. But as she got older, property values went up, property tax went up, a lot of them were displaced out of the city,” said Gates. “[For] a lot of my older family members, things just got too expensive here and they just had to move out further south.”
Gates’ parents own a home in the CD which provides housing for many of his adult siblings.
“It’s really tough because [my parents] don’t necessarily want to be in that house forever. But if they were to sell that house, many of my siblings, pretty much all of them, wouldn’t be able to stay in the city because of the affordability issues,” said Gates.
Until 2022, Daelen and his partner Sofia Garcia Galindo, lived in his parents’ home in a basement studio. Today, they live in a Homestead home at Village Gardens with Sofia’s brother David, purchased in the fall of 2022.
The Garcia Galindo-Gates family bought their Homestead home as a result of an outreach partnership with Africatown Community Land Trust. Homestead and Africatown worked together to help make sure families with ties to the historic Central District had the first opportunity to purchase at Village Gardens.
At the Village Gardens development, the Garcia Galindo-Gates family lives in a community of 16 households, 11 of which are permanently affordable homes. The family enjoys remaining involved in the neighborhood, with Sofia serving on the Homeowners Association board.
As young homeowners, buying into a program that will assure the long-term affordability of their home was important to Sofia, Daelen, and David.
"My brother and I immigrated from Colombia to the U.S. with our mom when we were very young. As a single mother, our mom could not keep up with the increasing cost of rent over the years, so we experienced constant displacement through our youth. We never knew stability until we bought this house," said Sofia. "I want more people who are around our age to be able to have access to [homeownership] and not feel like they’re trapped."
Family cat, Kit Kat, loves lounging around in the living room. Village Gardens is home to the Garcia Galindo-Gates’ family’s two dogs and two cats. (Photo/Gurjot Kang)
“It really is like a dream, like a huge massive weight lifted off our chests for a good amount of time, where we can kind of really plan out our lives,” said Gates.
Through the security of having an affordable, stable place to live, each of the household members now have the opportunity to focus more on personal and professional advancement.
“It ends up being about helping the community. So with our efforts and our education, we’re able to focus on that,” said Sofia. “And focusing on self-growth because I feel like when you’re struggling to pay rent, or living paycheck to paycheck because of rent, you’re less likely to focus on things that matter when it comes to your career…or the community.”
“It definitely hasn't been a walk in the park, figuring out how to be an effective homeowner, but we are so excited to learn as we go,” added Sofia. “I am hopeful more opportunities like this will continue to develop for folks like us so that they can build equity and feel the stability we have been enjoying for the last [several] months.”
Daelen Gates (on the bottom left) and Sofia Garcia Galindo (on the bottom right) volunteered, with Homestead CLT members, to assist clearing ivy and blackberry from encroaching on a Village Gardens sidewalk in May 2022. (Photo/Homestead)