Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) ran a successful program that provides free labor for minor home repairs. This service was available to elderly, low-income homeowners; disabled people; and female heads of household of very limited means. Because of its popularity, the Mini-Repair Program was a major asset in raising funds for other INHS programs.

The Mini-Repair Program at its inception was designed specifically for elderly home­owners as a way to keep them in their homes, which usually were older structures and often in need of only minor repairs. Writing up bids for such small jobs was not cost-effective. The mini-repair program was a cost-effective way of keeping the community’s elderly people safely in their homes, while minimizing cost to the wider community of more expensive institutional care.
 
The popular program grew to have a full-time staffer and to receive more requests for service than it can meet.

1.  Customers
The Mini-Repair Program’s clientele is 85 percent to 90 percent women. Of these, most are 62 years of age or older and living alone. Some are handicapped. One-third of the program’s customers are minorities. Sixty percent are frail, disabled, at risk, or simply can’t do certain things for themselves. To be eligible to receive free labor, an individual can have an income of up to $14,800 per year; couples can have $16,900 in annual income.

2.  Funding
In its initial years, the Mini-Repair Program got funds from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) small cities program. The Mini-Repair Program since then has not been funded by CDBG. Because it was so successful initially, the board incorporated the program into the INHS operating budget.
 
For the past 15 years, the program’s funding has come from a variety of public and private sources. Through Tompkins County and the New York State Office of Aging, INHS is reimbursed about $7,000 per year for labor for the program.
 
The Mini-Repair Program receives funds from the Gannett Foundation and the Tompkins County Foundation. The Feldman Fund, created from a bequest from an estate, pays for materials for repairs when needed. An anonymous donation provides a lock fund to cover costs of installing deadbolt locks and other home-security devices for female heads of household. Both of these funds were privately initiated. INHS also got a one-time grant from Cornell University to provide smoke detectors through the repair program.

3.  Personnel
The program is administered with one full-time position. Beyond actually doing repairs, this person must also be good with people. For many customers, the mini-repair contact becomes an important networking source, providing information about property-related issues, health services, prescription costs and other matters. The program also uses volunteers who may be referred by the Service Corps of Retired Elderly (SCORE); Green Thumb; Cornell University; or the area justice system.

4.  Services
Mini-repairs include tasks such as repairing steps or windows; installing handrails, deadbolt locks, smoke detectors or other safety devices; insulating; minor painting, plastering, electrical or plumbing work; minor roof work; and minor code repairs. An eligible household can get up to five workdays of repairs per year.
 
The Mini-Repair Program does not do exterior painting or siding; extensive painting or plumbing or electrical work; or jobs that require more than two full days of labor. When extensive repairs are needed, INHS will refer qualified, affordable contractors or possibly help with a loan.

5.  Service delivery
INHS provides all labor free of charge. Customers pay for materials. When a customer cannot pay for materials, INHS covers those costs from the repair program’s endowments.
 
When a customer calls to request service, the program coordinator assigns a priority to the request, in terms of how urgently the repair is needed and in terms of the Mini-Repair Program’s overall demand, which is usually high. The coordinator then meets with the customer, beginning what often becomes a continuing customer relationship as needs for future repairs arise. The program coordinator may keep tabs on a property to anticipate potential problems when a homeowner might not.

6.  Lending products
Through visits to homes, the Mini-Repair Program representative sees other needs that might be met and may suggest particular financing to meet homeowners’ needs.
 
Working in conjunction with Tompkins County, INHS can get funding for larger rehabilitation jobs from the New York State Restore program and from HUD’s HOME program. In applying for HOME funds, INHS has been able to demonstrate need through documentation of the Mini-Repair Program.

7.  Service area
Citywide. Total population is approximately 30,000.

8.  Marketing
Ithaca NHS does not advertise the Mini-Repair Program. Word of mouth, through friends, seniors’ publications and through the area’s solid senior-citizen network, has made the program well-known. Newspaper articles also have highlighted its work.

The Mini-Repair Program coordinator gets about 200 requests a year, and actually works on more than 100 houses a year, visiting each house twice, on average.

1.  Keep It Simple
The program representative, in first meeting with a customer, does not ask for an application or income verification; does not do an inspection; or use a checklist. The idea is to keep the contact simple and informal, to put the customer at ease. The INHS staff person then decides which customers need help first.

2.  Fundraising
INHS does not have difficulty raising funds for the Mini-Repair Program. In fact, the INHS executive director and the development staffer, in raising funds in the community, get more money than they need for this program. In a ripple effect, the Mini-Repair Program bolsters INHS’s reputation as a community lender able to tailor loans to individuals’ needs.

3.  Cost recovery
As part of the repair program, INHS charged $10 per hour to do repairs for people whose incomes exceed the program’s stated limits.

4.  Collaboration
When another nonprofit started to do a similar program, the two organizations got together and decided that INHS would offer the program citywide and the other nonprofit would do the rest of the county. Ultimately, they both received funding from county government.

5.  Community Service
In addition to its stated work of doing repairs, the Mini-Repair program is also, for many of the elderly homeowners it serves, an important connection to the outside world. The program’s work occasionally involves care-taking beyond the realm of home repair to simple social services and assistance.

6.  Avoidance Costs
The community benefits from the Mini-Repair Program on several levels. Costs are reduced because older residents can avoid institutional care while staying in a home that is well-maintained. Moreover, consistent and responsible home maintenance prevents property deterioration and abandonment. The overall cost of the program is low, given the services it provides that are above and beyond simple home repair.
 
Agency interview with: Paul Mazzarella