Program areas at Home Repair Services of Kent County
Repair and accessibility - the Home Repair Services Repair team completed 1,898 health and safety repairs for vulnerable Kent County homeowners. Repairs included: 294 furnace repair/replacements, 177 roof repairs, 127 water heaters, 73 main drain clean outs, 613 plumbing calls, & 124 electrical calls. The team also constructed 45 wheelchair access ramps and modified 46 bathrooms for homeowners with reduced mobility due to physical disabilities.
Housing counseling & education - the primary focus of this program continues to be foreclosure prevention, but financial literacy workshops continue to grow as well. Housing counselors conducted 41 one-on-one coaching sessions and assisted 28 households to successfully apply for mihaf rescue funds. The financial literacy workshops' topics included: debt reduction, spending plan, consumer protection, improving credit, understanding insurance, avoiding scams, reverse mortgages, avoiding identity theft, and cost realities of aging in place. Total attendance for the year was 411 students.
Self-help Home improvements - with the goal of stimulating self-directed Home improvements and repairs, Home Repair Services' instructors taught 61 Home maintenance workshops to 1,754 students. The hands-on Repair workshops equipped homeowners to complete do-it-yourself projects in their homes. A total of 41 homeowners successfully completed a diy remodel of their kitchen through the support of the Home Repair Services' remodeling together program. A total of 68 free Home inspections and assessment reports were completed.