The Fix Our Homes Illinois coalition is a force! Our Chicago Town Hall, which took place at Dawson Technical Institute on January 15, 2025, focused on “Senior Home Repair as an Economic Engine.” An ounce of prevention in the form of home repair funds is considerably more cost effective than building new housing and treating seniors’ poor health resulting from displacement.
It’s also more humane, as repair services, especially by local agencies, holistically engages as well as addresses entire neighbors, seniors, and other residents and businesses.
An excellent panel had every speaker focusing on senior home repair as having a ripple effect of benefit beyond the repair itself or the individual assisted: on the local economy and job creation, neighborhood stability, and closing the racial wealth gap.
The Town Hall Emcee was Rev. Robin Hood of the Illinois Anti-Foreclosure Coalition. He was joined by Gail Schechter of Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly (H.O.M.E.) in Chicago, the coordinator of Fix Our Homes Illinois, who described senior home repair as addressing “social infrastructure” to build and sustain communities, in addition to bricks and mortar.
The panel was deftly moderated by Sonseriya Williams of Teamwork Englewood and the panelists were:
- Home Repair Service for Seniors: Leslie Rodriguez, Chicagoland Habitat for Humanity;
- Workforce Development: Dean Inesha Kelly, Dawson Technical Institute of Kennedy-King College;
- Neighborhood Stabilization:Â Rev. Robin Hood, Illinois Anti-Foreclosure Coalition;
- Preventing financial fraud, housing preservation and promoting generational wealth: Eva Adams, Center for Disability and Elder Law; and
- REALTOR, Attorney and Housing Policy Advocate: Kimberly Chase Harding, Chicago Association of Realtors.
Before the panel discussion, Ella Montgomery, a Kreisman fellow at the University of Chicago, provided context for the discussion based on her research of existing home repair resources for older Illinoisans (inventoried on the Fix Our Homes Illinois website).
Over 60 people attended including older people, foundation representatives, community groups, home repair groups.
Attendees raised key additional issues like insurance companies cancelling coverage, bank foreclosures, and the need for more vocational programs like Dawson Tech.
Rev. Hood announced that State Sen. Lakesha Collins will sponsor our reformulated bill in 2026.
Caring for the living conditions of older people and people with disabilities (who must survive on fixed incomes, to boot) is important as social as well as physical infrastructure. It’s also core to racial equity in this deeply segregated city and region.
Stay tuned for future Town Halls in other parts of Illinois in 2025! Join us as we work on statewide legislation to expand home repair resources!