Some help for older homeowners struggling with critical repairs in Sarasota-Manatee

Marie Salmons was a staple of Bradenton.

Growing up in the house that her mother, a waitress, bought back when the city was a sleepy outpost, Marie either knew or was related to many of the old families in town.

She stayed in the house a mile from the river long after both parents were gone. She remained there when her husband passed from cancer.

And she was there after retiring from life as a mullet boat angler, fish farm owner, local cook and operator of a nonprofit called Second Chance of Manatee.

The house was a part of her, and it was where she would die, Marie figured.

Until a few years ago, when she found herself panhandling with her walker and living out of her SUV, saddled with roof repairs and behind in her taxes.

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“The only way to keep my house,” Marie said, “was to rent it out and live in my car.”

While much attention has focused on skyrocketing rents and a dire shortage in workforce housing, older homeowners are struggling, too.

Many like Marie are burdened by soaring costs in health care, taxes and insurance. When urgent repairs are needed – leaking roofs, aging wiring, termites in the walls – they can be at risk of losing their homes.

Thankfully, Marie came to the attention of a team of people whose assistance could provide a blueprint for larger solutions – and in the short term, helped Marie beyond her wildest dreams.

Too good to be true

It all started with Bill Ford, vice-president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Peter and Paul the Apostles Parish in Bradenton.

One day in early 2019, Ford passed Marie panhandling by the side of the road.

The sight moved him to stop and talk to her. Marie told him she had been in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers following intestinal surgery. She’d had to quit her job with an insurance company and was left with limited mobility.

Disability benefits didn’t stretch to cover her expenses – including medicines, roof repairs, and property taxes, which by then were in arrears to the tune of $1,800.

To bring in extra income, Marie decided to rent out her house and live in her run-down Ford Explorer.

St. Vincent de Paul paid off the back taxes and found a used Kia to donate to Marie. With that, she was able to work again as an Uber driver.

She also returned to her house. By now its condition was worse than ever, with bedbugs, buckling floors, a termite infestation, and a roof that was still in terrible shape.

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Ford steered her to Manatee County Community and Veterans Services Department.

There Marie filled out an application for programs that offer to repair – or even rebuild – houses for low-income homeowners who meet income and property requirements.

The programs are funded through state monies from the State Housing Initiative Partnership (SHIP), as well as federal funds from Community Development Block Grants (CDBG).

After Marie applied, Howard Jensen, Manatee County development specialist, came out to assess the dilapidated house. One thing quickly became clear.

“It would cost more to repair it than replace it,” Jensen said.

After months, Marie got some good news: she qualified to have her house rebuilt.

Legal Aid of Manasota helped her fix complications with the deed to her house and everything was falling into place, with demolition and re-construction set to start in late 2021.

But even as Marie was moved into a mobile home by a team of helpers from St. Vincent de Paul and Knights of Columbus, it all seemed too good to be true.

Waiting

Dozens of families each year hold their breath waiting to see if they make the cut for similar programs before the funds are exhausted, officials say.

On average, Manatee County tackles between 30 and 35 rehab and rebuilding jobs a year as part of the SHIP and CDBG programs, said Debbee Ash, Manatee County housing and community development coordinator.

A total of 40 projects were underway in different stages in early 2023.

“There is no shortage of people in need,” Ash said.

Two key factors would help the program expand to assist more residents in the housing crisis.

One, she said, would be additional contractors willing to bid for projects. Currently, only two to four companies are available.

The other big factor needed is more funds.

Pamela Fields, an attorney with Legal Aid of Manasota, agrees. She is part of the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee for Sarasota County and the city of Sarasota.

“This is wonderful," she said of Marie's case, on which she helped.

"But we need tens of thousands of these,” she added, about the area's shortage in affordable housing units.

Older residents often can't afford home repairs, especially when on fixed incomes outpaced by inflation.

Some risk losing their homeowner's insurance due to aging roofs. Others simply live for months or years with leaks, broken air conditioning, or more significant problems, nonprofits say.

Two agencies in the area are primed to step in.

One of them is Manatee County Habitat for Humanity, which has a critical home repair program that assists about 25 households a year.

"Part of the housing crisis is not just the cost of rent and mortgages but the cost of maintaining your home," said Micah-Simone Durrant, Manatee Habitat's marketing and communications coordinator. "That can be a huge burden on people as well."

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The program is funded through monies from the cities of Bradenton and Palmetto as well as grants. Repairs that cost over $5,000 only have to be repaid in part if the homeowner sells or moves out within five to 10 years.

But many older homeowners intend to live the rest of their lives where they raised their kids, surrounded by neighbors and a community of friends.

"We help seniors age in place," Durrant said.

Habitat for Humanity Sarasota also offers a critical home repair program that has helped 27 families over the last three years, primarily seniors and veterans living alone. Funding comes through grants, private donors and corporate sponsors.

As with the Manatee Habitat and the county programs, the extent of its reach depends largely on more funds.

Without this assistance, some older homeowners are left to live in poor conditions, said Sarasota Habitat president and CEO, Renee Snyder.

“A lot of folks will suffer through the summer with no air conditioning,” Snyder said.

Coming home

In early December, Marie sat motionless in her wheelchair in the driveway to her childhood home.

There at the top of the driveway incline stood a different house.

Instead of the old two-bedroom wood-framed home her mother bought more than half a century ago on a waitress’ income, this was a three-bedroom concrete block house.

Its fresh paint glistened in the sun – a lime green exterior with blue trim, just like Marie requested. Inside was a front office instead of a garage, where she could work from home, studying to become a remote court reporter.

“I’m just too stunned,” she said in early February, looking on from her wheelchair in the driveway. “It brings so much happiness back into my heart.”

The entire budget for the home was $180,000, including fees, closing costs and Marie’s temporary relocation expenses.

Of that, the mortgage itself was $167,000. It is a 0% interest deferred payment loan for 30 years, which Marie will only have to pay back if she sells the house or relocates within that time.

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What moved Marie the most was the teamwork involved on her case.

“It was the fact someone cared,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “It’s a feeling you can’t describe. Someone cared about what happened.”

For the near future, Marie, 60, doesn’t have to worry about roof repairs, or where she’ll go next. She's home.

This story comes from a partnership between the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Saundra Amrhein covers the Season of Sharing campaign, along with issues surrounding housing, utilities, child care and transportation in the area. She can be reached at samrhein@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota-Manatee seniors find help with critical home repairs