Fix Our Homes Illinois Holds Town Hall to Help Seniors Stay in Their Homes
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: 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.
