by Mike LaBella, Eagle Tribune
Two Lawrence families who scrimped and saved to buy their first homes said they never imagined things would fall into place so quickly.
For Victor Jaime and his family, and Ana Urena and her family, the dream of moving from apartments into homes they can call their own was years away.
Then they hit the lottery.
Not the cash kind like the Megabucks, but a homeownership lottery in which they and three other working families won the right to purchase brand new homes on previously vacant, neglected North Common lots that had been littered with garbage and discarded vehicles for many years.
Three of the single-family, energy-efficient homes are on Union Street, and two are on nearby Milford Street.
The Union-Milford Affordable Homes project was created as part of Lawrence CommunityWorks’ Project Reviviendo efforts focused in the North Common neighborhood.
Partners in this project included the City of Lawrence, Mass Department of Housing and Community Development, MassHousing, People's United Bank, Mass Housing Investment Corporation, Charles Bank Homes, MassDevelopment, NeighborWorks America, Boehm Architecture, Levis Companies, Groundwork Lawrence and the Lawrence CommunityWorks team.