Since pulling herself out of homelessness a decade ago, Nadia Johnson has worked tirelessly to achieve what no one else in her family has accomplished: owning a home in the Bay Area.
Johnson, a manager at a local Starbucks, and her husband, Andre, a driver for a private bus service, now rent a two-bedroom duplex in the Contra Costa County suburb of Rodeo with their 13-year-old daughter, Raiena.
The couple has been saving to buy a house of their own in the working-class community known for its sprawling Phillips 66 oil refinery. But their modest incomes make it nearly impossible to qualify for a mortgage, even in one of the more affordable parts of the increasingly unaffordable Bay Area.
