For most folks, moving into a new house means new schools, new neighbors, a different drive to work.

It means all that for Cindy and Carl Lowe, who received the keys to their new home on Sunday.

But it means far more for these parents of six children, said Cindy Lowe: "It means a new life for us. It means a new life for my kids."

Cindy and Carl Lowe and their children - ages 1½ to 17 - have spent years moving from one rental property to another, searching for an affordable, halfway decent place to raise their children. For the past three years, the family has crowded into a tired, three-bedroom, singlewide mobile home.

But the keys they received Sunday with some fanfare will soon turn the locks on a new, five-bedroom home on Danville Court in the Stetson Hills neighborhood just east of Powers Boulevard.

"This is a brand-spanking new house," said Cindy Lowe, with just a hint of disbelief in her voice. "We're all so excited."

The neat, tan-and-white home is the last of eight houses - five with three bedrooms, two with four bedrooms and the Lowes' fivebedroom - built on the culde-sac by Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity in 22 months.

The occasion was marked by a block party in nearby Pring Ranch Park and, later, in front of the Lowe home, a welcome prayer by neighbors, friends and Habitat for Humanity volunteers. A Habitat group formed by students at Pine Creek High School, which started with 15 kids and has grown to 150 - presented the Lowes with a gift card to a home-improvement store.

Trish Proper, a single mother of three children, moved into one of the Habitat-built homes on Danville in December 2006. She knows what simple wood, siding and nails can create for a family with limited means.

"My kids finally have someplace stable. They've never had that," she said. "We always had to live in rental apartments, moving when they got too expensive. Now, we all have bedrooms. For years, I slept on a couch.

"It's just changed our lives."

Paul Johnson, executive director of Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity, has heard that a lot over his 11-year involvement with the nonprofit.

"I've seen so many families do well when they get their new homes," he said. "The kids know where they'll go to school. Parents develop relationships with their children's teachers and principal. It just normalizes life."

Now in its 23rd year, Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity has built or rehabilitated 85 homes for low-income residents. Its purchase of housing lots are reimbursed through community development grants, and it builds the homes through fundraisers, donations and partnerships with local churches, builders and subcontractors.

With the completion of the Lowe home, the group next month will begin the most ambitious project in its history.

It will link with the Rocky Mountain Community Land Trust to build 67 homes in the new Woodmen Vistas subdivision, just east of Woodmen Road and Powers Boulevard. Habitat will build 36 of the homes; the trust the remaining 31.

The project will begin with a "blitz build" by builder Capital Pacific, which plans to start constructing the first house May 31, a Saturday, and finish it no later than Thursday the next week. A similar all-out effort kicked off the Danville project, with Classic Homes building the first home in two and a half days.

Habitat plans to build seven to 10 homes a year in Woodmen Vistas, at a cost of $140,000 each. It will take 518,000 volunteer hours to complete its 36 homes.

Habitat concentrates on selling homes and carrying the mortgages - with no interest - for families making 25 percent to 50 percent of the area's median income. That usually means families of four are making from $17,000 to $34,000, not nearly enough to qualify for a conventional home loan.

But by partnering with the trust, homes in the subdivision will be available for a wider range of buyers, those making 25 percent to 80 percent of this area's median income.

Johnson said Habitat homebuyers - many of whom are single mothers - are required to have some income, undergo financial counseling and donate 350 to 450 hours of "sweat equity" in Habitat projects.

Lowe, for example, worked on the last five homes built on Danville Court; her neighbor Proper worked six to eight months for Habitat before she was able to move into her home.

Both said they learned a lot, sweated a lot - and gained an appreciation for their homes.

Johnson said that screening has resulted in a great track record, locally and internationally: 98 percent of Habitat homeowners are able to stay in their homes and never sell.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity's major annual fundraiser, Hike For Habitat, will be June 7 at Monument Valley Park.

There is a $30 fee for the walk in the park. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. at the pavilions near Cache La Poudre Street. The hike will begin at 10 a.m.

For more information about the hike or to learn more about the nonprofit group, call 475-7800 or visit www.pikespeakhabitat.org.