Every year since 2019, the Union Miles Development Corporation (UMDC) has assisted approximately 100 senior citizens in Cleveland’s Ward 2 area with free home repairs. For Union Miles senior citizen James Efford, the senior repair program is crucial to maintaining his quality of life while on a limited fixed income.
As Efford showed The Land around his home, it was apparent that he cherishes his independence, while at the same time he welcomes and is grateful for any assistance that saves him money on home repairs.
The program gives seniors help with minor repairs, typically topping out at $500, that are not covered by other city agencies. Some of the items covered free of charge to the area’s elderly include repairs to stairs, windows, gutters, plumbing, ceilings, and flooring, and the addition of hand railings and ramps. While that may not seem like much, it can be a lifeline to many seniors in the area, especially when combined with other services and programs.
The city of Cleveland has several home repair programs that can help seniors, but some are loans rather than grants where others have strict income limits. One analysis found that Cleveland’s paint program, which provides free paint for tenants and homeowners to paint their houses, fell short of its goals the past two years, with fewer than 400 of the expected 1,000 homes completed. UMDC’s program aims to fill a gap by providing immediate grant funding for small repairs.
According to a 2021 report by the Center for Community Solutions, “In the City of Cleveland, as of 2019, nearly 12,000 older adults lived in poverty. That means the number and share of people older than age 65 who lived in poverty grew in Cleveland to 22.7%, compared with 22% in 2018. Cleveland now has the second-worst poverty rate for individuals over 65, trailing only Miami, Florida.”
This summer, AARP Ohio announced that UMDC, a nonprofit which serves the Union-Miles neighborhood on Cleveland’s east side, was once again a Community Challenge grantee, the only recipient in Cleveland, for funding for its senior repair program. With AARP and McGregor Foundation leading the way in program funding, the UMDC has been able to assist elderly residents of Ward 2 in increasing numbers since the senior repair program’s inception.
“As we age through life, we start to look for and seek help,” said Ward 2 Councilman Kevin Bishop. “When we get to be senior citizens, you need a partner there to help you when you really need it. I’m glad to have Union Miles partner in this effort. It means a lot to the seniors.”
Although some of the area’s older residents need more assistance than what this program can accommodate, Councilman Bishop describes it as a “ray of hope.”
Keeping seniors safe and comfortable
Artrice Smith-Lane, the program director for UMDC, says that the main goal of the repair program is to keep the seniors in their homes and comfortable.
“After buying a home and raising a family we don’t want them, due to income, not be able to maintain the upkeep of their home and have to move out,” she said. “It’s always a plus when these costs don’t take away from their food or medication budget. It adds to their overall comfortability.”
Keeping most repairs under $500 helps UMDC do that, she says, while reaching more residents – around 100 rather than, say, five or six. Proudly proclaiming that she’s from the very same neighborhood she serves, Smith-Lane went on to say, “Some of these people I’ve known my whole life, so of course I want to assist them, and I want to help them stay around as long as possible.”
Challenges of working through the COVID pandemic
The UMDC senior repair program began just before the Covid-19 pandemic. With many services, centers, and businesses shut down, it was a frightening time for seniors. In addition to health matters, the elderly were also faced with economic concerns.
“We took a hit during the pandemic,” said Smith-Lane, saying Covid made the UMDC repair program more complex, but the program pushed on. The problem was seniors’ comfort level with letting program providers enter their homes during a time when the elderly were the most at risk of contracting and suffering complications from the COVID-19 virus.
“The seniors wanted us to come in and do repairs, but were hesitant to let people in to do the inspections,” said Smith-Lane. UMDC typically reviews the needed repairs on site before approving them. “All in all, everything went off without a hitch and, most importantly, there wasn’t a lapse in service for them.”
Communicating the program to seniors
UMDC circulates flyers in the area and uses regular mail for the seniors who don’t use the internet, says Smith-Lane. From time to time, she says, Councilman Bishop also refers people who need help. For those who are a little more internet savvy, social media and email are also effective in getting the word out.
The UMDC has healthy home specialists that go out and do inspections to see what needs to be done in the home, and they also help seniors with filling out the application.
Once they know about the program, some residents become regular recipients. “Some seniors we help every year,” said Smith-Lane. “It’s always a plus if we can take care of new projects for many of them. If we can do plumbing this time, the next time we can patch a roof or fix windows.
What’s working, and what’s still needed
When meeting Mr. Efford, it’s easy to see that he is a proud man who is fiercely independent. But he is also willing to admit that he needs help. Efford looks to save every penny he can to maintain his home and semi-independent lifestyle. He gets his food delivered to him by Meals on Wheels, he checks in with the city’s Department of Aging, he welcomes the service that cuts his grass every two weeks, and he is grateful to the UMDC for its free home repair program.
Efford is quick to rattle off his list of “free hook-ups” courtesy of Union Miles over the years. “They put up handrails for me upstairs, downstairs, and in the basement. They fixed my gutters around the house. The people came and fixed the hole in my front porch, put down new wood planks, and painted the whole thing,” he said. Efford also says UMDC referred him to another contractor he needed, which is how he first learned about the program.
It’s still tough, though, for many older residents living alone. The Land talked with Efford about what would happen in an emergency – a fall, for example, when a phone isn’t always nearby. In addition, Efford and many other seniors have no way to clear their snow in the wintertime, and they have to wait to leave the house until the snow has melted enough to navigate walks and get out of driveways.
UMDC’s repair program doesn’t address every issue, but Efford is grateful for those services he has received, and he is eager to get additional stair rails so he can navigate his home safely. He’d like to clear out his upstairs and rent it out for additional income, but he can’t do that without more rails. With most of his income coming from Social Security and disability, he says that what he has already gotten from the home repair program is much needed and much welcomed, and that he would not be able to pay for those things if not for the UMDC program.
Reach Union Miles Development Corporation (UMDC) online or by phone at (216) 341-0757. Learn more about and apply for the senior repair program here.
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