Description:Home Repair & Safety Audit Programs
Many seniors choose to live independently in their own homes and communities. The Foundation sponsors two programs – Home Repair and Home Safety Audits – to help ensure that these New Yorkers remain healthy, safe and independent. Both programs serve as models for the development of similar programs throughout the United States.
Home Repair Program
Home repair and safetyThrough this Program, senior owners of private homes, condos and co-ops, with limited finances, are benefitting from free home maintenance and repair services. Services include minor plumbing, gutter- cleaning, masonry, electrical, carpentry, caulking, weather- stripping, home readiness for winter and summer, and the installation of crime prevention devices, as well as some emergency services.
Each year this highly successful program serves thousands of older homeowners and renters in all five boroughs. It is made possible through funding from the New York City Department for the Aging, and from private contributions.
Home Safety Audit Program
The Foundation offers free Home Safety Audits for seniors who join the Home Repair Program. They are designed to help prevent household accidents, injuries and burglaries among older homeowners. With the Home Safety Audit Program, volunteer specialists – aged 55 and older – are trained and dispatched to visit and inspect the homes of “at risk” seniors. Their responsibility? To identify potential hazards and recommend ways to resolve them. When feasible, seniors are encouraged to make the corrections themselves. Other seniors are referred to the Foundation’s Home Repair Program for free repairs.