Initiative refurbishes homes with health at the foundation

REBUILDING TOGETHER OF GREATER CHARLOTTE

Rebuilding Together of Greater Charlotte repairs homes at no cost, has launched Home Sick, an initiative to address health issues connected to housing conditions.

Where you live has significant impact on your health.

Rebuilding Together of Greater Charlotte, a nonprofit that repairs homes at no cost, has launched Home Sick, an initiative which addresses health concerns related to housing conditions. 

“Our program is really about people who just want to be able to stay in their community, in their home, and maintain that when it’s increasingly out of reach financially, particularly with higher property taxes,” said Beth Morrison-North, executive director of Rebuilding Together Greater Charlotte. 

Many people served by Rebuilding Together of Greater Charlotte are often Black women older than 60, with an average income of $30,000 a year. The average cost of a home repair is $25,000. 

One of their initiatives, Building a Healthy Neighborhood, has made adjustment in areas with concentrations of homes needing more repairs, like Pottstown in Huntersville and Hidden Valley in Charlotte. In some cases, community leaders have reached out to Rebuilding Together for partnership.

These are areas that are being targeted by rapid investment in previously disinvested neighborhoods, creating the threat of code enforcement violations. Morrison said lots of people tend to be suspicious about costly repairs being done on their homes for no cost, especially when government is involved. 

Older houses, particularly those built before 1978, may have a higher risk of having lead paint, asbestos, older HVAC systems that require pricy upgrades, which are threatening to the health of young children and pregnant people. The average repair for an HVAC system, Morrison-North said, is around $10,000.

Morrison-North said that about 40% of juvenile asthma cases are caused by the home they live in. One of the major repairs Rebuilding Together does is replacing old carpeting which has trapped years of dust and pet dander with vinyl planks. 

“Environmental triggers in the home for respiratory illness, like people smoking in the home; pest infestations are a major one, having good air quality control, having a good HVC system and changing your air filters often,” Morrison-North said. 

As homeowners age, mobility and accessibility needs can change, said Beth Morrison-North, Rebuilding Together’s director. Additions like walk-in showers, safety bars, wheelchair ramps, and levers for door handles can make homes more accessible. 

“Just think about wanting to bathe yourself independently,” she said. “Many people can’t do that without a costly home health aide, or a family member having to help them physically get in and out of the bathtub.” 

Widening doorways, adding lighting, and bathroom modifications are also a part of their work. 

“There’s a lot of ways that somebody’s environment is more challenging because of their own health and mobility, but there re sometimes when the home is actually making them sick,” Morrison-North said. 

Rebuilding Together, a licensed general contractor with repair, renovation and painting certification from the Environmental Protection Agency, is taking applications for projects in the Hampshire Hills and Eastwood Acres neighborhoods. The nonprofit partners with donors like Bank of America, Bed Bath & Beyond, Lowe’s, LG, Foundation for the Carolinas, as well as Mecklenburg County and city of Charlotte. 

Morrison-North says the city and the county have been “laser-focused” on working with Rebuilding Together to preserve the stock of older, more affordable homes. Beginning in September, the organization will launch basic home maintenance workshops for homeowners to know about things to look out for before they become more serious and expensive home improvement projects. 

In the future, Rebuilding Together is looking into ways to improve rental properties without giving capital to “slumlords,” Morrison-North said. The need for repairs coupled with higher costs may cause homeowners to lose housing that has been in their family for generations, robbing them of the opportunity to pass along wealth. In this way, Morrison-North said Rebuilding Together is also homelessness prevention. 

“The most affordable home is the home somebody already lives in,” she said. “So, if we can work to preserve existing affordable housing stock by making these investments so that they can live in their homes longer, it’s lessening the burden on how many new units we need to build as community.…

“We could repair maybe 10 to 15 homes for the price of building a new home, and that’s for major repairs.”

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