By Luke Ranker
The Topeka Capital-Journal
For more than a decade Margarita Gonzalez raised her family in a home that was, in her words, falling apart.
When she purchased the home — her first permanent residence in the city since moving from Mexico 13 years ago — it needed work, but it wasn’t in terrible shape. She tried to make little repairs on her own, mostly painting, her 12-year-old daughter Esmeralda said, translating her mother’s Spanish. But eventually it was too much for the single mother of three to handle.
“She couldn’t do it all on her own,” Esmeralda said. “It felt like the house was falling apart.”
Fading paint and creaking doors gave way to larger issues — leaking pipes, a failing roof and holes in the walls and doors.
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