Ardest's Story: Making a New Life for a Growing Family

Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Ardest moved up to Minneapolis partially by chance. He had visited family in Minneapolis many times before and came up here in 2005 to pick up his cousin before heading down to New Orleans to help the city rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. His plans were foiled when he fell ill and ended up at HCMC. After recovering, he decided to stick around and make a life for himself here in the Twin Cities.

He moved into a one-bedroom apartment in South Minneapolis and began working at Metro Hope Ministries, and also joined a church led by a childhood friend. These two organizations are just two examples of the places where Ardest has made himself irreplaceable. Though he has since moved on to a new job, he still volunteers regularly with Metro Hope Ministries. He is also involved with MADDADs and the Urban Bible Institute, where he performs outreach work aimed at reducing teen crime in his community.

In 2009, Ardest’s son AJ left Chicago to join his father. A few years later, his daughter Shane joined him. Things started to feel cramped in his one-bedroom apartment. Then Ardest got the news that things were about to get even more crowded—his daughter was pregnant. Knowing that this growing family would soon need more space, Ardest set out to find a solution.

At first, Ardest worked with a bank to find out if he could qualify for a conventional real estate loan. Though this was his first such visit to a bank, Ardest had been preparing himself for homeownership for a long time, consciously building credit and managing his debts.

“I paid off my loans and got a secure credit card to build it up. This didn’t just happen overnight. I had to work to build up my credit before I even applied. You got to make sure your finances are somewhat stable—be able to maintain employment to be able to pay for it.”

Ardest qualified for a conventional loan, but knew that he would have to escalate his current savings before he could afford the down payment. So he sold his car and worked on cutting down on his family’s expenses. He downgraded his cell phone and has passed the word on to his children: “We’ve got to be responsible, and live within our means in order to afford this house.”

Around the same time, Ardest heard an ad for Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity on KMOJ. TCHFH was holding its first annual Housing Empowerment Expo at Shiloh Temple in North Minneapolis. He attended the expo to learn more about the homeownership program, and was surprised to learn that he met the qualifications. He had known about Habitat for a long time, but had assumed his income would be too low to qualify. Once he got the application materials, he started working on collecting all the documents. Two months later, he turned his application in and entered the family selection process.

Exactly one year after submitting his application, Ardest got the news that he had been selected for a three bedroom home in Hawthorne’s EcoVillage in North Minneapolis. Since signing on to the program, Ardest has been working on his sweat equity hours and attending homeowner trainings. He has also made the effort to meet some of his future neighbors.

As a soon-to-be homeowner, Ardest dedicates time to share his story with friends and family, and educates them about the home buying process:

“<I keep telling them> you can’t keep buying these cars! It don’t look good on the books. The decisions you make affect what God can do in your life. I’m 47. I can’t be doing the same things I was doing at 16. A lot of people my age are still trying to do what they were doing at age 15."

Ardest also shared how ecstatic he is to have the opportunity to have more space for his family to be together. After his grandchild was born, his daughter had to move back to Chicago with her grandmother, because they were too crowded in their one bedroom apartment. Once Ardest and his family move into their new home, space won’t be a problem anymore; there will be room for his grandbaby to grow and learn, and his son AJ will finally have some space to study as he works towards his degree in Forensic Science.

When asked what he is most excited about his new home, he said:
“Stability. A sense of pride. Something for my kids to have ownership of. Having something to offer the community, to be an example for other single fathers and African-American men. You ain’t got to sell drugs, you ain’t got to rob nobody—pick yourself up off of what God gave you, and you can have something.”