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The application meeting did not start until 8 a.m., but Mariah Humphreys did not take any chances. She had heard that the people who showed up early tended to do better, so she got there at 5 in the morning. When the doors opened, she was about third in line.
That kind of resolve is how a 35-year-old Brevard County mother who was once homeless is now preparing to move into a home of her own, and not just any home. Humphreys was selected for one of the first 3D-printed affordable houses built in Brevard County through Space Coast Habitat for Humanity.
“At first I thought it was plastic,” Humphreys said of her reaction when she learned what kind of house she was getting. She had never seen a 3D-printed home before. She would soon learn it was real, it was hers, and it was a first for the community.
Humphreys did not arrive at this moment by accident. About seven and a half years ago, she said, she left a difficult situation, moved from house to house, and eventually became homeless. She moved through a couple of programs before finding her footing back home in Brevard.
Her path ran through New Life Mission in Melbourne, a long-term residential program for homeless women and their children. Humphreys was accepted and has lived in the program’s graduate, or transitional, housing since 2021. New Life Mission is built around a multi-phase model that pairs stable housing with case management, financial coaching, life skills and education, with the goal of helping mothers become self-sufficient and break the cycle of homelessness for good.
For Humphreys, that idea of breaking a cycle is personal. She said her mother struggled with addiction and alcoholism when Humphreys was just six months old, and that her father was the steady, responsible parent in the home. Growing up, she found herself in the role of caretaker. She does not want her daughter to grow up the way she did, and she does not want her daughter to have to take care of her.
“I kept telling myself I was breaking the chain,” she said. For a long time, she admitted, she did not believe she deserved a home of her own, and she never thought she would be able to own one. She credits the change to building confidence, leaning on therapy, addressing her problems instead of letting them drag her down, and surrounding herself with positive people rather than negative ones.
A Habitat home is earned, not given. Humphreys put in volunteer sweat-equity hours and attended classes on budgeting, insurance and escrow, the practical knowledge that comes with homeownership. She also worked on other families’ homes, mowing yards, cleaning lots and painting walls alongside fellow future homeowners.
That is by design. Habitat’s model brings families together so they invest in one another’s homes, not just their own. Humphreys said the experience taught her she had an entire community standing behind her, instead of facing the work alone.
Space Coast Habitat broke ground in 2024 on its Lipscomb Street neighborhood in Melbourne, the site of Brevard County’s first 3D-printed affordable homes, a collaboration that has drawn in local government and nonprofit partners. According to the affiliate’s 2025 Impact Report, Space Coast Habitat has served 609 families since 1985 and is marking 40 years of building homes, alongside programs that include critical home repairs, zero-profit mortgages and its ReStore resale operation.
Humphreys is not stopping at a front door key. She is roughly half a year from finishing her paralegal studies, with the longer goal of becoming a lawyer. She has reached out to attorneys about internships and wants to use what she learns to help people who cannot help themselves, the same kind of hand up she once needed.
“I want to keep helping the community in the way that I can, with the knowledge that I have,” she said.
She also has a message for anyone still standing where she once stood. Reach out. Ask for help. Do the work. She is proof, she said, that the chain can be broken.
To learn more about the homeownership program, the ReStore, or ways to volunteer and donate, visit SpaceCoastHabitat.org or call 321-728-4009.
