Egleston Square-based nonprofit Ecumenical Social Action Committee/Ensuring Stability through Action in our Community (ESAC) is helping seniors stay at home longer by donating minor home repairs and improvements.
Recently able to offer the service to those as young as 62 partly due to a grant from the national senior-rights organization AARP, ESAC aims “to make minor modifications and repairs to a home so the homeowner will be able to safely stay in their home,” ESAC Executive Director Bill Minkle told the Gazette.
“They liked our program,” Minkle added. “That’s why we got funded.”
Homeowners can ask for handrails or safety grab bars to be installed, leaky faucets or broken stairs to be fixed, or other such repairs or modifications that cost under $1,000. Anything bigger in scope gets directed to the City’s Senior Home Repair Program, Minkle said.
Homeowners must meet certain income requirements and have to be up-to-date with their current property taxes and water and sewer bills to qualify. Minkle said that the program helps about 400 homeowners a year.
ESAC is a multi-pronged community support nonprofit that aims to improve the quality of life for Boston residents, especially the young and the elderly. Its programs, aside from senior home-repair support, include foreclosure support and prevention, graduation equivalency diploma support for high school drop-outs and coordination with Egleston Square Main Streets for community-building. Its website is esacboston.org.