Building & Construction

A win-win solution for low-income homeowners, municipalities

By DANI MESSICK | The Municipal

A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development partnership helps the city of Aurora, Colo., repair the homes of elderly, low-income homeowners. Through one of the partnership’s programs, a Paint-A-Thon brings thousands of volunteers from across the state to paint the residences of hundreds of senior and disabled residents each year.

“Chances are that there’s someone working with HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) from wherever you’re looking to have these, because HUD provides funding nationwide,” said Aurora Housing and Community Development Manager Alicia Montoya encouragingly about the Colorado city’s newest homeowner repair program.

Aurora has three HUD programs in place and the city created a new one in January, the Minor Home Repair Program. Through it, $160,000 was approved to be administered by Brothers Redevelopment Inc. to address repairs related to accessibility, electrical, plumbing, roofing and HVAC for low-income homeowners with disabilities or physical limitations.

“Home repair is just a need that we all have,” Montoya said. “It’s important to us because we want to be sure that we maintain homes safe for the people who live in them. It helps us create stability and we want people to be able to live long-term in their homes. We want to be able to create that stability in their home.”

The city’s four housing rehabilitation programs include an emergency repair program, also managed by Brothers; the minor home repair grant, which covers up to $15,000; a separate minor home repair loan, which offers a loan of up to $45,000;

and a Paint-A-Thon program geared at those 60 years or older with disabilities.

The programs are funded by a Community Development Block Grant Program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD provides CDBG funding to all localities within the country as long as they can meet certain criteria, including presentation of a five-year plan. The city of Aurora then includes the block grant as a part of its budget and determines how much it can allocate to homeowners in need of repairs each year.

“With the population that we target for these grants and loans, the individuals are usually in a fixed income, many times or most of the time on social security income, and they’re older so they’re not able to make those repairs themselves. We want them to feel safe in their homes. Obviously, it also helps us maintain the neighborhoods and keep them housed,” Montoya said. “We just want to make sure the repairs that need to be done are done and that we’re supporting our older community who is on a fixed income.”

Montoya said the new grant program has its first four homes in progress.

Jason McCullough, director of home modification and repair for Brothers, explained that many of the folks involved in the home repair grant programs are in a crisis situation, needing ramping for handicap accessibility, electrical repairs or plumbing.

“Kind of all the things people need to live in their house, especially when you’re on a lower fixed income,” he said. “If you’re an older adult and you’ve lived in your house for many years, you don’t have the skillset or the financial ability to take care of that, so these kinds of programs help. Hopefully we get people to be a little bit more relieved and comfortable in their home.”

This is the second year the 50-year-old nonprofit organization is working on such paid and volunteer projects with the city of Aurora, but it’s the first time they’re the designated contractors. Brothers provides, manages and protects affordable and accessible housing and related issues throughout much of the state.

“The work we’re doing is predicated on aging-in-place,” said Chad Nibbelink, director of volunteer department for Brothers. “We’re providing a tangible service by painting the house, protecting this really big investment and improving the aesthetics in the community, but really what we’re doing is helping our older adults to age well in their homes.”

As the volunteer director, Nibbelink sees a different side of Brothers and the grants than many others involved may see — especially through the Paint-A-Thon program, which receives hundreds of requests from all throughout their service area every season.

“Our goal is that every ounce of work that we do in our volunteer department is ensuring dignity and that everything that we do is shared, because we care about each other and our community,” said Nibbelink. “We’re not coming in and saving the day on any of these projects, but we genuinely are walking shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors and that’s what we think is a healthy philosophy of volunteerism.”

The work is all exterior. Sometimes it’s painting or debris cleanup, and sometimes it’s landscaping or light repair work.

“One of the things that we’ve seen with the Paint-A-Thon is that by having it, our homeowners are connecting with their communities in new ways. When you have 15 people running around in the front of The Paint-A-Thon is just one of four home repair programs that Aurora, Colo., created alongside Brothers Redevelopment to help low-income residents age well in their own homes.

Volunteers for the Paint-A-thon come from various organizations, including city works, religious groups and companies.

your house, in your neighborhood, you notice,” said Nibbelink. “That awareness really brings neighbors to want to show up and talk to the homeowner or meet the homeowner for the first time. Often, the person has been kind of ashamed of their home and it hasn’t been a really bright spot in the neighborhood, and now here you’ve got this kind of meeting point, where it’s like starting over: The homeowner is able to engage the community in a new way.”