Krystal Dean knows what it’s like to be homeless. While a resident of Miami, she found herself displaced after learning that the apartment she lived in was illegally rented to her. Although she had a full-time job as a medical assistant, she didn’t earn enough to pay rent anywhere else. For two years, she lived in her car and was separated from her children.

In 2016 her situation changed for the better after moving to Dover. Krystal lived with her sister for several months, then received a Housing Choice (Section 8) voucher. As a requirement of the subsidized housing assistance, Krystal enrolled in the Moving to Work (MTW) program. She worked as a home health aide for Caring Hearts Home Care, and as a certified phlebotomist for Beebe Medical Center, Bayhealth, and American Health Associates. In July 2023, she joined Christiana Care Hospital in Newark as a phlebotomist and currently is its overnight phlebotomy supervisor.

Krystal worked and lived with her children in a Dover townhouse for eight years. Normally, MTW clients must leave the program after the seventh year, but during the pandemic, everyone in the program was given an extra 6 to 12 months. Krystal took advantage of that extra time to build her nest egg, which grew steadily, thanks to salary increases and an escrow account that DSHA opened for her when she started in the MTW program.

To provide a work incentive, MTW participants’ rent is capped at 35 percent of their adjusted monthly income, not to exceed $350 monthly. As their income increases, their rent increases, but the amount they pay over $350 is put into their escrow account, all of which is available to them if they graduate from the MTW program in five years. If they need the extra two years to complete the program, they receive 60 percent of what is in the escrow account when they leave.

As her financial savings grew, Krystal started looking at homes and seeking mortgage pre-qualification and preapproval in 2024. Things changed in 2025 through a series of introductions. DSHA Social Service Manager Isaiah Greene introduced her to realtor Evie Ross, who, in turn, connected her with Pike Creek Mortgage, a DSHA preferred lender. Then, Krystal was on her way to purchasing her first home.

By the beginning of March, she was preapproved for a DSHA First State Home Loan, which provided $7,800 for closing costs and downpayment assistance in addition to a first mortgage. By the end of March, Krystal found a newly constructed three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse in Harrington with two parking spaces and a patio big enough for her family. She closed on her new home on April 28, and she and her three daughters moved into their new home in mid-May.

Her older daughters are happy to be close to the high school they hoped to attend, and her youngest daughter’s daycare is nearby. Krystal says she enjoys being able to decorate her home the way she wants and having the freedom to make other decisions regarding her home that she could not when she was renting.

Krystal says DSHA’s mortgage programs made the purchase of her home affordable, but what really made a difference for her and her family were Delaware’s Housing Choice Voucher and Moving to Work programs. They gave her a place to live with her children while she re-established herself in her career as a healthcare professional, and the escrow account provided the additional funds she needed to purchase her home.

As for advice she would give to others looking to buy their first home, Krystal says motivation is the key. “You have to want it. Stay focused, have patience and don’t give up. If you don’t get the first house you make an offer on, it wasn’t meant to be. You’ll eventually find something that was meant for you.”