Dallas, Fort Worth families in need of financial help and affordable housing supported with free repairs

As a growing number of local municipalities strive to meet the demand for more reasonably priced housing, some of these municipalities are reallocating more of their resources to engage in extensive renovation projects that will assist families, particularly families, in remaining in their currently affordable housing.

Repairs are often an essential component in enabling seniors like Carol Grimes to continue living in their homes as they age.

The historic home that Grimes and her family once owned in McKinney is filled with many of their most cherished family memories.

She stated, “The bottom line is that it is where I grew up.”

In 1955, when Grimes was in the sixth grade, her parents moved into the house from another location.

Her grandfather was the one who planted the magnolia tree in the front yard, and her children and grandchildren have delightedly carved their height progressions into the wall panels.

“Nothing horrible has ever happened in our house,” she remarked, referring to her grandson Mac, who had actually made the remark at one point.

However, following the deaths of her parents in the early 2000s, the mansion began to fall into disrepair.

Grimes provided the following explanation: “I had no one and I didn’t have the cash to do some of the important things.”

In the year 2019, her close buddy Sam Peacock conceived a plan.

“Why don’t you try getting in touch with Habitat? Consequently, I made contact with Habitat, and it got the ball rolling “Grimes stated.

It is common knowledge that Habitat for Humanity constructs newly built low-cost single-family houses. However, the nonprofit organization also provides major repairs at a portion of the normal cost. After the approval of Grimes, Habitat undertook a number of significant renovations, including foundation work and the installation of a french drain to reduce the risk of flooding.

Grimes stated, pointing to portions of her yard that used to flood but do not do so anymore as a result of the work done by Habitat for Humanity, “This would flood, it would be above your shoes.”

Hands and Hammers, a volunteer group led by Sam, worked on repairing various things within her home, including cupboards, floors, and more.

As places like McKinney grow less affordable, housing industry executives believe it is even more crucial to preserve the cheap housing that already exists by repairing older homes like Grimes’.

Cristel Todd, the Affordable Housing Administrator for the City of McKinney, stated that “We are also trying to keep our people in affordable housing because you cannot find affordable housing out there” and “keep our elderly households to age in place because even the apartments in the rentals out there are no longer affordable.” Both of these statements were made by Cristel Todd. “We are also trying to keep our people in affordable housing because you cannot find affordable housing out there.”

She claims that in certain circumstances, if a house is so damaged that it cannot be fixed, the city may decide to tear it down and construct a new one in its place, as they have in the past.

However, due to the fact that prices have virtually doubled, it is far more cost-effective to carry out extensive repairs these days. Todd claims that they had thought about investing up to $100,000 in the property’s renovations.

She said, “We are able to perform emergency repairs if the air conditioning goes out, and we can do little repairs if they need a new roof.” “We are able to make modest repairs if they need a new roof,” she said.

Additionally, Habitat for Humanity is redistributing their available resources. The worldwide office drew up a chart to illustrate the locations in where Habitat for Humanity has seen a reduction of 33 percent in the amount of building activity in 2020 and is currently performing more repairs than new builds.

“Being able to go in and help preserve the affordable housing that is here keeps the area affordable because we will have investors that come in and they do some renovations, they flip it or they charge crazy rent amounts so that no one can afford it and it makes all of the rates in the area start to go up so we want to keep our people in our homes,” said Todd. “We want to keep our people in our homes because we don’t want our rates to go up so we can keep our people in their homes.”

Grimes said to NBC 5 that she regularly receives bids from investors who are interested in purchasing her property, and she is relieved that she does not have to consider any of their proposals.

During the tour, Peacock showed everyone where a group of workers had recently restored Grimes’ old bedroom. Because she is confident that her house is in good shape, she is able to sleep there with a bit more serenity these days.

“Because of my financial situation, I would not be able to purchase another house, therefore I do not know where I would live. I just couldn’t. It is impossible for me to even fathom what my life would be like if I were forced to move out of this place “said Grimes.

She does not need to because there are volunteers coming from both of those groups.

The labor was provided free of charge by Hands & Hammers and Habitat for Humanity. Each month, Grimes makes a payment to Habitat equal to a certain proportion of the total cost of the supplies.

Other organizations and initiatives that provide assistance and financing for home renovations include the following: