Seniors are the backbone of our society and our homes as well. But often they face severe difficulties when it comes to getting their houses repaired or enhanced. Home repair for senior citizens free of cost is a huge deal, especially today. Several grants offered by both governmental and non-governmental agencies offer help to seniors with home repairs. Through free money for seniors to fix up homes or by other means, these agencies offer required free home repair assistance for seniors.
Often due to wear and tear caused by Nature, a house suffers from ruggedness. We often hear complaints like the pipelines have gotten choked up or that the roof is leaking or that there is mold or the flooring is disrupted. All these things take up a lot of money to get fixed. Speaking of roof replacement it costs around $15,000- $20,000 roughly. Similarly, getting the roof waterproofed or fixing the flooring might also cost quite a lot of money.
Now, these changes might be affordable for low-income citizens who have a regular income but for seniors, it becomes slightly tough. Several reasons affect their lack of funds and to assist them with these repairs, numerous agencies offer free home repairs for senior citizens. Read along to know everything you need to know about these home repairs for senior citizens free of cost programs.
Programs Offering Home Repair For Senior Citizens Free Of Cost
Getting home repair for senior citizens free, Apply to these help for seniors with home repairs programs today and avail free money to fix up home. As I told you earlier there is free home repair assistance for seniors programs offered by several non-profit charity organizations and other governmental agencies.
To continue with this thought, let me tell you precisely which programs are the most helpful when it comes to home repair for senior citizens, free of cost. Some churches offering help for seniors with yard work if you want to repair or want to complete some DIY Projects.
Section 504 Home Repair Program
Backed and funded by the federal government, the Section 504 home repair program offers home repair for senior citizens free of cost or at an affordable price. The United States Department of Agriculture administers the program along with a wide variety of other loans and grants that help for seniors with home repairs. If you are a senior and wish to get the facilities in your house enhanced without any surplus charges, then you must apply to these free home repair assistance for seniors programs.
All you would have to do is get yourself registered and submit the required documents along with fulfilling all the criteria set by the agency. If found eligible, you would be offered a grant amount of $7,500.
You must remember that this is a grant program and you do not have to pay it back. I am specifically clearing this out because there is also a loan offering program under the same title. Both the home repair for senior citizens free of cost and loan programs under the same title are available all year-round. You would have it at your dispense whenever you wish to get your house renovated.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Now, this ain’t exactly a program offering home repair for senior citizens free of cost, but it sure does administer programs that are introduced to lead the very exact cause. The Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA is an organization that works toward stress relief in times of environmental crisis. By this I mean they help citizens and localities that have been affected by natural disasters.
Most of the time, when a tornado hits a town, or floods affect a locality, people are affected the most, and then there are inhuman entities like houses that are weathered by these incidents.
Not only does it help with damage control in affected areas, but it also has special programs to assist veterans and seniors in the community. Their programs, like Special Housing Adaptation and Adapted Housing Program specifically offer free home repair assistance for seniors.
Through these programs, the applicants are offered the required help to get their houses renovated and/or repaired. Enhancing the house to get it specially abled is a unique feature of these programs. With the help of these programs, you can get yourself a ramp in your house or a lift for easy mobility.
Habitat For Humanity
The organization’s name has habitat in it, making it all the more acceptable as an organization that helps with home repair for senior citizens free of cost. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit charity organization that extends its helping hand to those in need during a crisis. It is a great way to get free money for seniors to fix up homes.
However, the organization only helps citizens hailing from humble backgrounds. That is to say, if you are applying for free help for seniors with the home repairs program, you would have to belong to the low-income stratum of society. Only then you will be deemed eligible for the grant amount.
The organization offers several other programs that help less fortunate citizens find assistance in their desperate times. It is a national organization, and that is why there is a long list of applicants waiting for being assisted. Hence, you need to submit all the documents right on time, and these documents must be updated so there are fewer chances of your application getting rejected. Several programs concerning house repairs and renovations are offered to specific groups of society. To learn about them you must visit their official website or their local chapter in your area of residence.
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Samaritan’s Purse
Another non-profit charity organization that offers free money for seniors to fix up homes, the Samaritan’s Purse is an organization that extends its helping hand to citizens affected by natural calamities. It is a faith-based organization that helps explicitly seniors get their houses repaired and renovated. The organization has a network worldwide. It has its offices in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Korea, the United Kingdom, and of course, the United States of America.
Recently, the volunteers helped the citizens of Louisiana who were struck by a terrible tornado. Through its disaster relief programs, home repair for senior citizens free of cost is possible. You can visit their official website and learn about this program and other such programs that can prove to be helpful for you.
Changes Made Under Free Home Repairs For Senior Citizens Programs
Free home repairs for senior citizens programs are majorly applied by citizens residing in rural areas. Due to a lack of facilities and low income, these citizens find it hard to make ends meet while getting things fixed in their houses. Along with the lack of facilities, there is also seen a lack of knowledge when it comes to learning about the facilities that these free home repair assistance for seniors programs offer. Often these applicants are not aware of the changes that can be made in their house with the help of these programs, due to which they fail to get the most out of it.
This is why I am here to tell you about all the changes that you can get readied with the help of these free home repair for senior citizens programs. Below is a list of modifications that these programs offer to those in need:
- Window replacements
- Installation of new furnaces
- Roof repairs
- Installation of new heating units
- Septic tank repairs
- Electrical appliance repair services
- Installation of new air conditioning units
- Installation of medical equipment
- Installation of ramps
- Installation of lifts
You must note that all the facilities mentioned above are offered to seniors through free home repairs for senior citizens programs but the last two are only provided if proof of disability is submitted along with the application. That is to say, if the senior or anyone in his or her house has a hard time transporting from one place to another, then they can submit the proof of disability and request for the last two facilities specifically.
Help For Seniors With Home Repairs: Important Facts
Offering help to seniors with home repairs has been a way of life for several different organizations. Be it governmental agencies or non-governmental, non-profit charity organizations, all these institutions have been offering their help to seniors in one way or the other. However, when it comes to trying something new, applying for a grant, for instance, many of us get highly anxious due to our lack of proper knowledge of how things work. So, let me clarify a few things for you by giving you a short description of how you must apply and how things work when it comes to programs offering home repair for senior citizens free of cost.
Eligibility Criteria
Usually, when we have to apply for any kind of grant or scholarship, what we first look for is whether we are eligible for the final prize or not. Similarly, if we speak of getting help for seniors with home repairs, then here, too, eligibility criteria play a major role. However, it may happen that even after submitting all the proper documents and fulfilling all the eligibility criteria set by the organization, you might not get the required help from that particular organization.
One must not think that only because I am specially-abled, my chances of getting a grant are only limited to grants for the disabled. In reality, it is the complete opposite of that. Specifically speaking of help for seniors with home repairs, seniors with a disability are more than welcome and equally eligible for the grant programs. Not only that but if you present the right and updated papers of your disability, you would directly be eligible for extra facilities that can prove to be an added benefit to your abilities.
Earlier we talked about programs that offer home repair for senior citizens only in calamity-struck areas but do not get confused as other programs can help you even if the house is not dilapidated by natural adversity. Based on your financial condition and the state of your house, these agencies will help you get the desired assistance.
Grant amount
Now the basic eligibility criteria might be the same for all organizations, but there are specific criteria that differ from organization to organization and state to state. Similarly, the grant amount offered by these help seniors with home repairs programs may vary from organization to organization.
However, this is not the only point of this segment. Quite often, people confuse themselves by equating grants with loans and vice versa. Grants offering free money for seniors to fix up homes are completely different from loans offered to get your homes repaired or renovated.
As the name suggests free money for seniors to fix up homes offers FREE money that is not to be paid back to the lending organization. At the same time, the loan granted by any organization would have to be paid back in a given frame of time.
There is often a mix-up between the two from the end of the lending party as well, so do not get troubled with the intricacies of the words, you must check the application process and introduction of the program beforehand. This can be done by visiting the website of the concerned agency or by paying them a personal visit to their administrative offices in your area of residence.
Places That Offer Free Money For Seniors To Fix-Up Homes
Till now we talked about programs that offer home repairs for senior citizens free of cost. Back then too, I told you that these are not the only programs or agencies that offer free money for seniors to fix up homes or home repairs for senior citizens free of cost. Here is a list of a few more organizations that would extend their helping hand to applicants for the free home repair assistance for seniors programs.
1. Area Agencies on Aging
Specifically introduced to assist the elderly with everyday chores and costs, Area Agencies on Aging are organizations institutionalized under the Older American Act of 1965. Backed and funded by the Ohio Department of Development Housing Trust Fund, these agencies offer a wide range of facilities under their help for seniors with home repair programs. They also administer programs that provide free money for seniors to fix up homes.
Services like replacement of heating and cooling systems, plumbing mechanisms, hot water tank replacements, water taps and lines, taking care of electrical systems, roof replacements, flooring, and door repairs, and ramps for the handicapped are offered by these agencies through their home repair for senior citizens free of cost programs. You can know more about these agencies and the services that they offer by visiting their website. They have several other options to choose from when it comes to free home repairs for senior citizens.
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2. Catholic Charities
Along with governmental agencies and non-governmental, non-profit charity organizations that offer senior help with home repairs, there is another wing that works ardently in the same direction and that is the group of faith-based organizations. Catholic Charities is one of the largest faith-based organizations that help with free money for seniors to fix up homes. To date, numerous people have availed the benefits of several programs and plans introduced by the organization, and the senior group of the population is no exception.
The organization is not one particular organization that helps with free home repair assistance for seniors but in actuality, it is a huge network of benevolent agencies and organizations, some of which are faith-based while others serve different motives. They work in collaboration with each other to manage resources to offer free money for seniors to fix up homes and provide free home repair assistance.
3. Medicaid and Medicare
I know, these are insurance plans that help citizens of the United States of America pay their hospital bills and medical bills. But they offer more than that. They provide home enhancement grants as well. These free home repairs for senior citizens are focused on providing them with medical issues and the required medical assistance in the sanctity of their house. Often it happens that after a crucial surgery, patients are required to have complete bed rest but due to a lack of caregivers, they are unable to depend on someone for their daily chores.
This can lead them to get their chores done by themselves which may lead to complications. This is a common cause in patients who suffer from paraplegia. Thus, to assist them in their daily chores some modifications are to be made to their houses. For instance, they would require grab bars or bathroom transfer benches, or toilet safety frames in their bathrooms. They might also require ramps or lifts in their houses for smoother transportation within their own house.
To get this assistance equipment, you must submit an application form and required documents along with your social security number. You must acquaint yourself with Social Security Administration as you can only apply for this equipment through their means. Not only would you get assistance with renovation or free home repairs for senior citizens, but you can also request a full-time, in-home caregiver until you are fully cured. To apply for all these, you would have to follow the standard procedure and fulfill all the eligibility criteria set by the organization.
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4. LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program)
Yet another federal program that is typically known for another cause but also offers free money for seniors to fix up homes. LIHEAP offers appliance assistance to low-income families and individuals to enhance their houses to more energy-efficient ones. But did you know by doing so they are also helping citizens get their houses repaired or renovated?
Their free money for seniors to fix up homes program and help seniors with home repairs programs are not really the titles of the programs but the programs that are offered under the title of this program do just the work to offer help to those in need. They help the applicants weatherize their homes. To weatherize a place, one must first stabilize the place so that energy-efficient appliances can be fitted properly. Thus, often under these programs, the officials administer facilities like roofing or flooring.
You can also get the dual benefits of the program. By applying to these programs, you would not only lower your utility bills but also have an energy-efficient house and a chance to live in a repaired or renovated house. If you are found eligible, you will be offered coverage for weatherization, heating and cooling expenses, and energy-related repairs.
Conclusion
Home repair for senior citizens free of cost seems an unachievable task for many but with the help of agencies and organizations mentioned above, one can actually get help for seniors with home repairs. Free home repairs for senior citizens are offered by these organizations in a hassle-free and quick manner. Government programs offering free home repair assistance for seniors might be national assistance programs, but hardly any applicants have been denied the required help. If not resources they help the applicants with free money for seniors to fix up homes.
For further information, you must contact the organizations and agencies mentioned above. They would provide you with a detailed overview of grants and programs offered by them. This would help you decide better as to which grant would suit your needs the best.
