My home was damaged in a house fire; I had no insurance on it. My mother is dying and I can't work a job because I'm taking care of her in her last days. She's 89 years of age and I hate having to keep moving her from place to place. I really need some help in fixing up my home.
By Mary
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I have worked in a couple different non-profits that helped people with different things and all of these organizations know what the other organizations do, and a lot of the questions we received pertained to housing. I have never heard of free home repair. Habitat for Humanities builds new homes for people, but you have to meet certain qualifications, and there is a waiting list. Is your whole home uninhabitable? Talk to your pastor, he/she might know of some people in the congregation that could help you at least get the house livable, nothing fancy, but so that it could be lived in. Income wise do you and your Mother qualify to live in a HUD apartment? The rent is 30% of your income.
They do have waiting lists, but it kind of depends on where you live and how many HUD apartments there are, how long that list is. Also look in your phone book for something called the Home Builders Association, or something similar. I know every spring they have a deal here, where volunteers from their organization along with supplies donated by merchants make really minor repairs to homes for elderly and disabled people. I know this is a rare incident, but in the city I live in, an older couple(the husband has prostate cancer) lost their home in a fire of Feb., 2010, and a next door neighbor of theirs started a movement on facebook to completely rebuild their home for them.
They had been living with a family member since the fire, and between volunteers to do the carpentry work, and donations of supplies and furniture this couple has a really nice new home built on the same site as their old home. All the furniture, appliances, etc. were donated by businesses in town. The population where I live is about 150,000. Maybe you have a friend that do that for you. This couple just moved into the home last weekend. The house had to be razed before the building could start, and when you consider it was done by volunteers when they weren't working their regular jobs. I don't understand why you have to keep moving your Mother from place to place. Isn't there some friend or family member you could stay with and help out with groceries and a little for utilities?
Also if your Mom is actually terminally ill, maybe she should be in hospice care. I realize you want to take care of her, but it might be better all the way around if she qualified for hospice care. I don't expect my kids to take care of me in my last days. Also call 211, that is an organization that has a list of all the help organizations in an area, they might know of places that could help you.
Gosh, I am so sorry to hear about your misfortune. Have you checked with Habitat for Humanities or other local community helpsite?
I always find it interesting that those who's advice is more pragmatic and less friendly than helpful don't sign their names when they post. Perhaps these folks don't belong to a church? Not everyone does. And yes, there is free home repair. Suggesting HUD is 3 years minimum, and most likely this lovely lady will have no further need for a home by then.
I would come over with a hammer and nails if I knew where you lived, but short of that, here is a link from Google that I simply put in "free help after a fire" and got this one that I think might help.
www.ehow.com/
If the local paper or news station can help, I would make my plight public, that is when things get done and people step up to help. I wish you all the best of luck and you have my condolences as to your mom. No one should leave this world without a roof over their heads and someone to care for you...one thing she needs and the other she has. You, bless you for that.
Sandi/Poor But Proud
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