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Assistance on housing Repairs

Sometimes it is not the lack of finances but simply the lack of ability, health or understanding, that keeps these jobs from being accomplished.

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Veterans

Veterans that need work or home repairs done can contact All American Handyman Services. Members and  the community donate the tools, new appliances, and “volunteer hours” to help veterans and their family deal with any challenges in their housing situation at no cost.

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Low-income Seniors

Low income and seniors contact All American Handyman Services. Thousands of older low-income Montana seniors who own their homes but are having difficulty maintaining them. They can’t do the work themselves, can’t afford to hire contractors, and can’t—with falling housing prices—sell and move.

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“The bottom line is that older people are caught in the middle. They have this great asset but they don’t have any liquidity,” says Greg Secord, director of a national nonprofit. Deferring maintenance to pay for food and medicine, while necessary, can “become a negative spiral,” he says, with the home’s value going down as its condition deteriorates.

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The bad economy makes things even worse, Secord says. The cost of utilities such as electricity and fuel has soared, while programs that could help seniors with housing are receiving less money—but more applications for help. He adds that seniors may have trouble qualifying for home equity lines of credit and  even if they do get a loan, with limited incomes they may have trouble making payments.

 

A report by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies found that more than a million Americans age 65 and older spend more than half of their incomes on housing, and that about half of the disabled seniors lack the structural modifications—for example, handrails, grab bars, ramps, elevators, and stair lifts—that could help them function more easily at home.