Habitat Berks homeowner says stability changed her family's future

For years, Jackie Kull said, it felt impossible to get ahead. Rent kept climbing, housing situations kept changing and stability for her family always seemed just out of reach.

"I was paying high rent, a lot of high rent," she said. "I couldn't maintain a stable environment for the kids. Landlords would either sell or up the rent."

After hearing about Habitat for Humanity of Berks County, in 2024 Kull took the first step toward homeownership by setting up an appointment. But in her meeting with Eneida Powell, Habitat Berks' director of family services and volunteer coordinator, Kull learned she wasn't quite ready to buy a home.

Instead of turning her away, Kull said, Powell helped map out a path forward, from credit counseling to financial classes and budgeting help.

After years of struggling under rents as high as $1,800 a month, Kull owns a house in Reading and pays a less than $1,000 monthly mortgage.

She credits Powell not only with helping her navigate Habitat's requirements but with changing how she thinks about money and responsibility.

"For like six months, I didn't even buy a piece of gum," Kull said, laughing. "Eneida taught me to think, ‘Do I need it, or do I want it?'"

That mindset, she said, stuck.

"If you start applying that to yourself," Kull said, "it can push you a lot further toward your goals."

Powell said such lessons are central to preparing families for homeownership. Even before applying, she said, prospective homeowners attend classes on budgeting, credit, debt management and self-care.

Her approach, she said, is rooted in honesty and accountability. She emphasizes the importance of creating what she calls a true budget, one that includes every expense, and sticking to it.

From application to closing, Powell helps clients overcome barriers that could derail the process, Habitat Berks Executive Director Timothy J. Daley said.

But her manner is not soft-handed.

"You can tell in the faces of our families just how respected and, in some cases, feared she is because she's all about business and getting it done right," Daley said of what he calls Powell's tough‑love approach. "What she really is doing is showing clients the ultimate respect by not pitying them. She tells them and teaches them that they're capable of doing this."

Her work has been transformative in guiding generational renters to the self-sufficiency needed for homeownership, he said.

Like Kull, many Habitat homebuyers face rising rents, unstable housing, credit challenges and limited savings while trying to balance work and parenting, Powell said. Habitat teaches them how to break long-standing financial habits and build stability, she said.

Kull said her journey included periods of housing insecurity, long work hours and moments of self-doubt.

"You go through these trials, these tribulations, and it just tests you in life," she said. "But if you really want something, you will go get it."

Despite her heavy workload, Kull completed the 200 hours of "sweat equity" Habitat requires of its prospective homeowners.

Those hours can include helping at Habitat projects and volunteering at the organization's Re-Store in Muhlenberg Township. About 40 to 50 hours are devoted to financial education, including budgeting and the responsibilities of homeownership.

"There's no excuse," she said. "I was working 50 hours a week, and I still did it."

Kull said that when she received the keys to her new home nearly a year ago, she collapsed on the floor crying.

A delayed dedication of the home on Miltimore Street is scheduled for June.

"I'm very grateful," she said. "I'm a very hard worker all my life. It's just I never got that opportunity."

Homeownership, she said, has changed more than her housing situation. It has changed the future she sees for her family.

The lower monthly housing costs allowed her to leave a job she held for nearly 25 years and open a business, a long-cherished dream.

She is doing well and working fewer hours, Kull said, and that gives her more time to devote to family.

The changes also had a positive effect on her two school-aged children, she noted.

"As soon as we got that foundation of stability, it showed," she said, noting the improvement in their outlooks and grades.

The family is even planning a long-delayed vacation to Disney World, Kull said.

"I wanted to take them for the last 10 years, and it never could happen," she said. "It is only possible now because I'm a homeowner."

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This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 6:37 AM.