Aging in Place - Person Centered Priorities

According to a recent article, the top 5 things that assist aging adults remain living in their homes:

     1. Having meaningful connections
     2. A purpose that motivates action                  
     3. Access to transportation and services
     4. Safe and healthy living environment
     5. Support to achieve the above

When folks lose their purpose they lose their motivation for existence.

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is looking for ways to not only help aging homeowners live in a safe and healthy environment but also investigate other ways we can help homeowners age in place.

We are looking at strategic partnerships with other agencies to assist homeowners with their non-housing but essential needs to help them successfully age in place. We are also looking at how we might use our volunteers in more creative ways to help aging homeowners. Age in Place Home Maintenance

Please share your idea's to help homeowners age in place.

ABWK - Going Beyond The Start-up Phase

The first few years of our ABWK program created a flurry of activity. Most of our family partners were seniors that owned their homes and were for the most part wonderful program partcipants. During those early years we received a lot of publicity and created many longlasting agency partners that we rely on to this day.

However, as our program became more established and built a reputation in the community for helping people restore their homes and preserve homeownership, we realized that we needed to develop more in depth policies, procedures and parameters for A Brush with Kindness.

There is a point in the program where current and future resources need to be assessed in depth and a plan developed based on strategic goals and growth opportunities. Obviously, the need in most communities continues to grow with no end in site. However, finding the necessary resources - both cash and inkind will determine to what extent your program can meet those needs.

We have chosen to grow in the area's where we can have the biggest impact - health & safety projects. These type of projects benefit homeowners the greatest to allow them to continue to living in their home. However, we balance those projects with enough volunteer friendly projects that meet demand and helps grow the program.

Most programs should be able to jump from serving 12-24 families a year (start-up phase) to serving 25-50 families a year within 5 years of start-up. Depending if your program runs on staff or volunteers, your budget should range from a start-up of $25,000 to $100,000 as you move into more and bigger projects. Obviously, staff and size of projects will make your budget vary greatly. However, it does create a general picture of where many programs start and grow into during there second phase of growth.

For much more specifics on ABWK growth and strategies please contact me at plund@abwk.net.

Why A Brush with Kindness?

Connecting People

A Brush with Kindness has become an integral part of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. ABWK began as an idea to help struggling low-income families repair and restore their home and create stable homeownership in the Minneapolis/St.Paul metro area. It's primary focus began in our core urban areas where aging homes were in abundance and neighborhoods were struggling to maintain housing and keep families from taking flight.

Restoring Homes

The U.S. loses ten's of thousands of affordable homes each year to demolition and most affiliates are not able to increase their home production to a significant extent to replace these homes. So helping to not only create but also preserve homeownership makes sense for communities throughout the country and much of the world.  Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity

Many low-income homeowners in the Twin Cities live in challenging circumstances that create overwhelming and paralyzing issues. They often are forced to choose paying for food, medication, or basic utilities and put needed home repairs off until they can no longer be ignored.

Yet years of deferred maintenance often leads to unsafe and unhealthy living conditions. A home left in disrepair may result in city code violations and homeowner insurance cancellation. Many of the homeowners we partner with have worked years to maintain their homes and now find themselves in an awkward and sometimes embarrassing position of asking for help. 

As an affordable housing provider, Twin Cities Habitat understands the importance of homeownership for economic, physical, and psychological well-being. A Brush with Kindness helps ensure families are able to live in safe, healthy homes. The program not only helps keep homeowners in their homes, but also helps to revitalize neighborhoods and saves communities thousands of dollars in safety net assistance for homelessness, nursing and hospital care.