Meet Anyla Williams-Johnson

People First^USI and the transformation of Tidewater Gardens are two of the best things that happened to Anyla Williams-Johnson.

A home of her own is a dream come true.

When Anyla Williams-Johnson learned in 2018 that she would have to relocate from her one-bedroom unit in Tidewater Gardens while the community was being redeveloped, she immediately set her sights on purchasing her own home.

It seemed like a big dream for Ms. Williams-Johnson, who is the third generation in her family to call Tidewater Gardens home. Her grandmother, who worked for the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA), lived there. Her mother lived there. And Ms. Williams-Johnson had lived there since she was a baby. When she turned 18 and learned she was eligible to rent her own unit, she did. But living in Tidewater Gardens wasn’t easy.

“I believe that anyone that lives in that community suffers from PTSD because you see things,” she says, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder. “You get so used to hearing gun shots you become numb to it.”

Four years ago, Ms. Williams-Johnson, then 32, was working part-time at Walmart when she attended a meeting held by People First^USI and NRHA to discuss the Tidewater Gardens relocation and transformation project. There, she received an application for the Housing Choice Voucher Program as well as information on a first-time homebuyers program offered through NRHA.

After applying for subsidized housing, she learned she didn’t meet eligibility requirements for a permanent subsidy because her income was too high. People First^USI put her in touch with someone with NRHA’s home-ownership program, a connection that resulted in her enrolling in an NRHA course where she learned the income and credit score she would need to purchase a home in the NRHA’s inventory of affordable properties. Meanwhile, Ms. Williams-Johnson read everything she could about the home-buying process while she continued to work at Walmart and save money.

Then COVID-19 hit. While many customer-service workers quit their jobs during the pandemic out of concerns for their personal safety, Ms. Williams-Johnson was not one of them. She used the opportunity to dutifully report to work, and she got promoted twice and became a full-time employee, eventually becoming Team Lead in the Bakery and Deli department.

“I knew if I was going to buy a house I had to increase my hours to work 40 hours. So, I got me a surfboard and started riding the waves.”

By the end of 2021, Ms. Williams-Johnson was ready. With a full-time job and steady work history of 13 years at Walmart, money in the bank, and acceptable credit, she qualified for a three-bedroom, two-bath home owned by the NRHA that the authority was going to rehabilitate before selling. The asking price was $163,000, which Ms. Williams-Johnson called a blessing.

On June 10, 2022, she closed on her newly refurbished home and received the keys to the property that has everything she dreamed of: Luxury vinyl floors. Gray and white granite countertops with silver speckles. An ensuite in the master bedroom that no one will get to use except her. A driveway outside for her car, and a big shed for storage.

The day she became a homeowner, Ms. Williams-Johnson said she was so happy, she “spun around in a circle.”

“My grandmother came the first day I got the keys and prayed at the house,” she says proudly, crediting hard work, People First^USI and the NRHA with helping her make her dream come true.

.