Pastor Wandamarie Crawford’s living conditions had become hazardous to her health.
As she has aged since moving back into her childhood home more than 20 years ago, Crawford has become less mobile and physically capable of maintaining the finished basement where she lives. Meanwhile, repairs a more able-bodied homeowner probably could fix without much effort have mounted, reducing her quality of life while increasing her injury risk.
Nail heads protruded from the floor. A low-wattage, overhead bulb produced little light. An obstructed drain in front of her outdoor entrance caused ponding water, which froze into a dangerous sheet of ice during Chicago’s brutally cold winters.
Despite her efforts to hire a handyman to make the repairs, Crawford, whose vision is impaired and walks with a cane, couldn’t find anyone willing to do the work.
“They can't make a lot of money doing it,” says Crawford, who returned to the Englewood house to help care for her mother, now in her 90s. “I couldn't find anything that dealt with handyman-type stuff, which I thought would probably be more reasonable in terms of what we could afford to get done.”
In her search for assistance, Crawford discovered H.O.M.E. — Housing Opportunities & Maintenance for the Elderly. The Chicago nonprofit’s Upkeep and Repair program helps improve the lives of the city’s older low-income residents, as well as keep them in their homes.
“The philosophy of H.O.M.E. is to treat the older members of society with great respect, and we make affirmative steps to visit with them, to provide them with decent housing and to provide them with society,” says H.O.M.E. Executive Director Gail Schechter.
Since 2007, the repair program has provided more than 16,000 repairs for roughly 2,100 older homeowners. H.O.M.E.'s three full-time specialists complete electrical, carpentry and plumbing repairs, as well as safety modifications, to improve living conditions.
“We serve homeowners on the South and West sides of the city who are mostly black, also Latina and usually women who just have no other options to get work done either because they cannot afford the work or, in some cases, contractors won't even go to their neighborhoods,” Schechter says.
A Blue ImpactSM grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois will help expand the Upkeep and Repair program, allowing it to hire up to three part-time assistants to help repair specialists complete as many as 800 repairs in 80 households annually.
“If homeowners get their places fixed, they're secure, they're safe,” Schechter says, adding that older adults often delay maintenance to pay for food, utilities and medications.
To qualify, homeowners must be at least 62 years old, 55 if disabled, and live south of North Avenue within the city limits with a maximum of $1,200 in monthly income. Homeowners pay a $25 service fee and reimburse H.O.M.E. for job-specific materials. Labor is free.
With its Blue Impact grant program, BCBSIL awarded nearly $4.5 million to 115 nonprofits in 2024. The program invests in organizations working to address social and economic drivers of health, including neighborhood and built environment.
“We see our grantees as partners, especially when it comes to addressing health care gaps in underserved communities,” says Vivian Mikhail, a BCBSIL community affairs representative. “We take their community-based solutions, and we try to improve some of our other programs.”
Crawford’s work ticket reached repair specialist Nate Foggs. He nailed the floorboards, installed a brighter overhead lightbulb, unclogged the drain in front of Crawford’s entrance, hung a wall-mounted mop and broom holder, rehinged a closet door and found and marked the house’s main water shut-off valve.
But a repair Foggs made to a cabinet door may have prevented Crawford from seriously injuring herself. The door always slammed shut after it was opened, requiring Crawford to try to maintain her balance with her left hand while holding the door open with her right hand.
“This is more than just a job. It's really like a passion,” says Foggs, as his emotions overcome him. “We try to create a more livable, safe environment. They're more than our clients. They become family. We do form a connection, and that connection goes beyond after I leave the house.”
