Photos: Alina Simone

Hands On Housing

For an elderly homeowner, maintaining an old house can be a struggle. Untended repairs soon become health hazards or financial drains. Hands On Housing, a nonprofit program of Austin Metropolitan Ministries, provides free home repair for low-income elderly or disabled homeowners. Generally HOH clients are individual elderly homeowners living on a fixed income below $9,000 per year who can’t afford to pay a contractor to repair their homes.

Qualified applicants are referred to HOH by local congregations, neighborhood organizations and community leaders. Repair projects range from light weatherization and painting to complete reroofing and foundation leveling with volunteer labor provided by a wide range of churches, schools, businesses and civic organizations. These efforts not only make homes dryer, safer and more energy efficient but help neighborhoods by preserving affordable housing stock and enabling long-term residents to stay in their homes and remain active in their communities. Hands On Housing has repaired more than 500 homes since 1990.

In 1997, the year Rena Mae applied to Hands On Housing, the house had no indoor plumbing.

Rena Mae used this outdoor spigot as a source of water before Hands On Housing volunteers installed indoor plumbing.

Rena Mae has called the same place home since 1936; a two bedroom shotgun house that rests on a tree filled lot just east of Chicon St. in the Chestnut neighborhood. The outhouse that still stands in the backyard is a reminder of a not so distant past. In 1997, the year Rena Mae applied to Hands On Housing, the house had no indoor plumbing and the roof and foundation were badly in need of repair. There was no way Rena Mae could afford the needed repairs on the $500 per month she received in social security and disability benefits.

Holy Cross Lutheran Church selected Rena Mae’s home as their project. Over several weekends volunteers from the church worked to trench a sewer line in the backyard, level the foundation and repair the roof, shingle by shingle. They installed a bathroom and kitchen sink, a hot water heater, and air conditioning and upgraded the electrical system. Holy Cross has participated in Hands On Housing events since 1990 when the program was founded. “The people of Holy Cross look forward to these events each year,” says project leader Jon Pritchett,“ It broadens our sense of community.”

"The people of Holy Cross look forward to these events each year; it broadens our sense of community."