Editor's Note: This is an update to "Homeless for the holidays."
CRESTVIEW — The Campiones would have been homeless after Saturday, their deadline to move out of a mobile home they had been living in rent-free.
But the day before eviction, Debbie Campione found hope.
"I went on Craigslist Friday and saw an ad for a three-bedroom house," she said. "The owner said she had just put this house on there 30 minutes before I saw it."
For two months, Kathleen Bowman and her son, Phil, had been letting Campione, her daughter, Crystal Pryor, and Pryor's five children live rent-free in a mobile home the Bowmans owned on Lee Avenue.
Last month, the Bowmans sold the lot to Habitat for Humanity, and had to remove the mobile home by the beginning of December to close on the property.
Campione was informed of the sale at the time so her family could begin looking for a new home, Phil Bowman said.
"We went under contract with Habitat for Humanity. Just the timing was bad," Bowman said, with Thanksgiving occurring just two days before the family had to move.
Nitsi Bennett, president and chief executive officer of the regional Habitat for Humanity office, said the organization was not responsible for the family having to move.
"(The Campiones) knew that the house was sold," he said. "They were only supposed to be there until they found someplace else."
The Campiones also received an eight-day notice before eviction.
Helping hands
When Campione found the Chestnut Avenue home listed online, Bowman helped the family move.
"We paid their deposit for the new place and we gave them a trailer to move their stuff," he said.
Campione said she and Pryor have begun the process of applying for one of the Habitat for Humanity houses planned Crestview, and are gathering necessary financial documentation.
"There could a one- to two-year waiting list, they told me," Campione said. "I said that's fine, as long as we get our name on there."
Bowman said he and his family are glad the story had a happy ending, and were pleased they could help Campione and her family.
"Habitat and the Bowmans are just in the business of helping people," he said.
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Family finds new home following eviction from rent-free residence