"I fought hard to get his property, and now I never want to part with it," says Pansy Morris, a Patient Care Assistant at UConn Health Center. She thinks of her three-unit, 3450 square foot building on Broad Street as a "love child." Her children were raised in the home, and she is bound and determined to keep it in the family. "I lived in the building, and most of my tenants are Section 8, so the government was always checking to make sure everything is fixed," notes Morris. Built in 1927, the home’s missing banisters, stripping paint and drafty windows were making it harder to pass their inspections.

At the same time that property values were falling and the building’s condition was deteriorating, Pansy Morris found herself divorced and in the midst of a devastating personal bankruptcy. She speaks of the financial challenge of keeping it up to snuff for tenants with quiet determination. She had been searching for years for financial assistance, especially to pay for painting the three-story building. "I held onto the building with both my hands, and I prayed to God to get the building fixed. But nobody wanted to help me," she sighs.

Demoralized and confused, she told a friend from the South End that she was struggling. "He got help from HCLF, and thought maybe I could, too. I still doubted myself, but they said at HCLF that I should come in to talk to them. I didn’t even have enough self-confidence to call back after that first conversation, though. But then they actually called me!" she says with a broad smile. "Somehow, I just got the feeling that this time, I was going to make it."

Ms. Morris was eligible for a $22,500 Home Improvement Loan from HCLF, but disappointments with other lenders had made her leery, and she worried that it sounded too good to be true. "But the HCLF staff helped me really understand the process, and explained everything so patiently. Then I found out that I could really afford the interest rate, and I realized this was an organization I could trust to help," she says.

In just three months, repairs were underway including new vinyl siding, windows and doors. HCLF helped to identify the contractors and kept them on task, even stopping by to be sure of the quality of their work. "I felt really supported," Morris remembers, "and feel HCLF is just excellent. Even for me, who has only one income and is single, it really does help me in such a terrific way that I can’t find the words to express. Now, whenever I see a building in the neighborhood that needs repair, I wonder if they know they can come to HCLF."

One of the immeasurable dividends of HCLF’s investment in Ms. Morris’ home is her renewed self-confidence. Her soft-spoken and gentle nature seems to belie the wealth of determination and reserves of strength she so quietly has gathered. Best of all, perhaps, is the renewed sense of optimism she displays when discussing her plans for the future. Just a few years ago, she felt the deck was stacked against her and the future held many frightening prospects. Now she is visibly proud of what she has accomplished, and dreams of a bright, kind future for the home that she loves. "I want to change the fence at the side, maybe add grill gate, and start some inside work like painting. Oh, and I think I may refinish the flooring," she says, her chin and eyes tilted upward in thought.

Ms. Morris sees signs that her neighbors are starting to make more improvements, too. "I see lots of buildings going from rental to owner-occupied. People seem to be starting to invest in their properties. I really think this neighborhood, it’s about to rise again." She says this with confidence, and a knowing smile.

Loan funds provided by CT Department of Economic and Community Development.