CONSTRUCTING DREAMS

by Emmanuel Vera

For Ernesto Fonseca, CEO of Hacienda, he had a desire to help families, and improve their lives by providing them with affordable housing, something he wished he once had. His story begins in the state of Querétaro, Mexico growing up in a part of town that resides in the slums. No running water, lack of electricity, with houses made from cheap plywood and sometimes no roof which was his home till age 11. By age 12 his dad bought a little house in a better neighborhood, for the most part, life was good in his childhood.

In due time Ernesto grew an interest in construction by watching his father be a builder or sell carpets and wallpaper. Then he joined him at work and learned a little bit of construction from that part of his life. Although things seemed to be going up, things took a turn, there was a huge Mexican economic collapse in 1994 and two years later his parent’s finances were not looking good. By 1998, he worked a number of jobs including with the secretary of health of Queretaro doing evaluations in rural clinics.

Ernesto had trouble finding opportunities at the time in Mexico, so he decided to move to Wisconsin and worked as a server for about two years. He later found a job caring for young men in their late teens and early ’20s with disabilities. “I left that job due to being undocumented at the time. Eventually, I moved to Arizona in June and I applied to Arizona State University and got in. In 2004, I got deported back to Mexico, which was emotionally difficult,” shares Ernesto. His wife at the time was a community organizer and spoke to the current congressman who today, Ernesto feels like he owes him a lot as he assisted for his return. Ernesto became a citizen in 2011.

In 2006 he developed his own business doing housing development which started with doing one small house at the time with his hands. He then finished his PhD at Paterson University. In 2011 Ernesto decided to run for City Council and tries a few times. He lost, but he did become the affirmative action chair of the Democratic Party.

Ernesto’s inspiration to study architecture and dedicate his careers in construction goes back to his childhood and the poor conditions his family lived in. His former house was very small, the restroom was outside with no roof, wide open. He remembers a special occasion as a child when it was raining, it leaked inside his house while he slept on a cot. At that moment he knew he wanted to create something beautiful. Ernesto did and carried on to build custom designed homes but he wasn’t happy. He knew something was missing and was lead to doing more work around the Latino community.

Prior to entering Hacienda, Ernesto had already developed around 1,000 houses. His expertise brought him to his current role. He was delighted to join the organization and arrive to Portland. When talking about his role as CEO, Ernesto describes working in the front house, interacting with people that serve people directly and then there’s the back houses were administration, human resources, and philanthropy take place. In the last 30 years Hacienda has developed 381 houses. Today, they have developed almost 700 units with almost half a billion dollars in invest-ments right now.

Additionally, since Ernesto’s arrival, Haci-enda has grown substantially when it comes to Family Services providing afterschool pro-grams and support for families and kids. By providing economic opportunity with mortgage lending homeownership education or foreclosure prevention while providing ALS for minorities including women. Lastly, they provide technical assistance to grow one ’ s business and upward mobility.

“This is why housing is so important for infrastructure in our communities and mo-bility, which creates housing choices that we need. This means having the availability of housing for any different income and family types and individuals. One cannot be a very well-developed or civil society until we find a house for everybody. If anything you know housing education and healthcare should be basic human rights in order for us to have a healthier community healthier society.”

Ernesto expresses how although in 1986 the government came out with low-income housing tax credits which allowed more affordable housing projects, more work needs to be done around homeownership models. Investment opportunities only exist with those financial institutions that have the capacity to do so such as banks. There are fifty million dollar projects and those institutions are huge in investing but they don't give opportunities for investment for tax abatements to the low and middle income families. For Ernesto, his grand vision is to be a multi-state organization. “It’s important for people to understand who we are and where do we want to go not based on our own desires but based on where our communities are located,” he says. His goal now in the next two years in Hacienda is to be strongly present in seven cities across the state. As for his vision, Ernesto shares his hope of “ the organization to have covered a large portion of the states by not just bringing in housing but the many services that we provide. I have seen people succeed over and over again when they are provided with a little more than just a place for them to stay.”

Ernesto strongly believes in the idea that anybody can to move forward. In order to grow and succeed he believes in one attribute and that is to be persistent and believing that what one can do will be doable despite the many obstacles. “We as Latinos need to recognize oppression, we need to recognize the obstacles that we're going to face, they should not be a handicap in our lives. They should not be any of those attributes that prevent us from reaching our potential. Where do you want to go is really what is going to make a big difference.”

LATEST PROJECT

• Las Adelitas will be the largest redevelopment project in the Cully Neighborhood to date and the largest public investment in the NE Cully community. Located just across the street from Hacienda’s headquarters, the four-story, multifamily affordable housing development will create 142 homes and a new outdoor plaza. Las Adelitas is the outcome of a 5+ year community design process that transforms a former strip club site, known for illegal gambling and human trafficking, into a catalyst development. Aptly named after feminist Mexican revolutionaries, the building brings deep social, economic and environmental benefits.