Roof Repair Assistance for Low Income Home Owners?

cybergrannie
Gold Feedback Medal for All Time! 949 Feedbacks

May 28, 20180 found this helpful

There are some places to apply but some of these may not do work on mobile homes.

• You should always check out what is available in your own city/county/state as those agencies are the ones you will most likely have to apply to.
• Many of their qualifications are stringent because they have to be sure of the facts before granting an interview but once you have completed one then it will be easier to complete another one.
• Government programs are not always the fastest but once approved you will be put on a waiting list and the work will start when your name is reached. The list may be long as there are lots of people needing help all around the country.
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• If your situation is considered an emergency then you may get approved to a shorter list.
• i would suggest you start with Habitat as they may be able to help in a shorter time frame. There are offices in your area.
• www.wicomicohabitat.org/.../roof-and-repair-programs
• Here are links to a couple of sites that have agencies listed that you can check out.
• www.rd.usda.gov/.../single-family-housing-repair-loans...
• www.chesapeakehousingmission.org/.../
• You may be able to get a list from your local social services as they also work with low income families.
• dhr.maryland.gov/.../
• You can always check with local churches but most of the time they can only help with minor repairs.

deborah.laird

May 30, 20180 found this helpful

I have tried Habitat they wont do it ,I have tried Cheapeake housing they would not help when husband was alive with a ramp so cant count on them so far I have found nothing

 

cybergrannie
Gold Feedback Medal for All Time! 949 Feedbacks

May 30, 20180 found this helpful

As I stated in an earlier post, most of these agencies will not help anyone with repairs to a mobile home.
Sometimes it is difficult to understand why but one of the reasons is because generally a repair to a house is kinda straight forward - roof bad - repair roof and be done with the job but a mobile home is rarely like that.

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When repairing one thing - say the roof - they may have to replace all of the framework of the roof before any "roof" repairs begin. Sometimes that involves electrical work or wall work or even floor work because repairs to a mobile home can go on and on even though it just looked like a roof repair.
Undoubtedly your mobile home is an older model if the roof is leaking (unless there are other reasons for the leaks) and that means there will be other needed repairs.
Another thing to consider, any roof repair usually requires a city/county permit and permits cost money and that also means an inspector will have to inspect the repairs and they require at least one qualified person to be on the job or sign off on the job. All of this is quite different from many other types of repairs.
I am not trying to discourage you but I just want to express that free repairs to a mobile home will not be easy to get. It would be much better if you could find a handy man that might work by the hour and maybe you could find "free" money easier than finding free repairs.

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I see ads on Craigslist asking for help with all kinds of repairs so maybe this might work for you. It would be very helpful if you had some sort of skill that you could "barter" with but it never hurts to ask.

 

Judy
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts

May 28, 20180 found this helpful

Fixing a home on a limited budget

Step 1
Contact HUD.org and click on your state.

Step 2
Contact Habitat for Humanity.

Step 3
Contact local churches.

Pghgirl40
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks

May 30, 20180 found this helpful

I am so sorry to hear of your troubles. I have a few suggestions...which are:

1. Do you belong to a religious organization (church, synagogue, mosque etc.)? Some have discretionary funds that are used to help parishioners in need. It is all very private and no one needs to know.

2. Since you have a computer and are posting here, have you considered setting up a Go Fund Me or like crowd sourcing pages?

They are fairly easy to do, you tell your story and ask for help. I know from first hand experience they work if you work to get the message out there. The only thing is I also recently learned they may count as income and may need reported to the IRS....see this link www.post-gazette.com/.../201805230153

If you go this route, you may want to have a professional do your taxes for the year of the process.

3. Do you have a community college in your town that offers carpentry classes? If so, call there and see if they offer a program where the students to the work if you pay the materials. Just be sure to understand exactly how it works and if you have any recourse if they do a bad job...they are students and it probably won't be perfect...although ideally it could be.

4. If you have a health condition...like if you have MS, or asthma, or a heart condition, or if you are a senior...contact the national organization for your situation and see if they can offer help. For seniors, I know there is an Area Agency on Aging in my state that helps people... I have no personal experience with this, but read not long ago about how this worked for someone. I can't find a link so I must have read is in an old fashioned paper format that didn't get linked to a website...or I am not asking the right question of Google.

Good luck with your search! I will send up positive thoughts that you find a good solution!

Judy
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts

May 30, 20180 found this helpful

Try Habitat for Humanity

Hello
Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 107 Posts

May 30, 20180 found this helpful

Green Street Housing Coalition might provide some resources greenstreethousing.com/.../

There;s also the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition
www.mdahc.org/

you could apply for a USDA rural housing repair grant www.rd.usda.gov/.../single-family-housing-repair-loans...

here's a USDA program: www.marylandhomeownership.com/.../
"To qualify, you must:

Be the homeowner and occupy the house
Be unable to obtain affordable credit elsewhere
Have a family income below 50 percent of the area median income
For grants, be age 62 or older and not be able to repay a repair loan
What is an eligible area?
Applicants may check the address of their home to determine eligibility."

if you are alone and nobody will help fix a mobile home, you may have to be open to the possibility of surrendering your mobile home and seek help via the above agencies in finding a new place to live.