Photography by Steve Cole Images / iStock / Getty Images Plus/ via Getty Images
Hammer
For 33 years, Marsha Johnson, 71, has lived on a quiet street in the Ville neighborhood, in a small brick home—and she has a list of things she’d like to fix. The kitchen floor needs to be replaced. Some plaster needs repairing. And, like many seniors who live independently, she needs some modifications to make her house safer. Johnson feared slipping in the shower, so she tried to time them for when she knew someone else would be home with her. She stumbled a few times coming down the steps in front of her house because there wasn’t a handrail.
Although programs such as St. Louis’ Healthy Home Repair can make major home improvements—like installing new siding, gutters, fascia, and decks—Johnson turned to another organization, which works with the city, for the more moderate home repairs she needed help with. Mission: St. Louis’ Minor Home Repair program serves low-income seniors, and on a recent April morning, two contractors were building Johnson a new handrail for the steps leading to her home. Much of the program’s work addresses energy efficiency, weatherization, accessibility, and fall prevention.
“It sounds insignificant to you or I who can make those repairs by ourselves, but these do present challenges to too many seniors,” says Todd Martin, Mission’s director of home repair.
Seeing the Sites
Last year, Mission: St. Louis contractors put in 3,885 hours on site. To learn more, visit missionstl.org.
“We’re continuing to help folks age in place,” adds Sam Lehde, the organization’s home repair operations manager. “We see a lot of people who live in generational homes, and now it’s a lot to take on.” Because the program sticks to moderate repairs, it can get to requests sooner. Crucially, these updates help preserve and stabilize affordable housing instead of creating new builds.
Cameron Hymer, one of the contractors building the handrail outside of Johnson’s home, has worked for Mission for almost two years. Normally, he explains, he’d sink the railing into the concrete that’s to the left of the home, but because it’s cracked, he’s making do with placing it on the right. Hymer likes his clients, but because the homes he’s working on are in underserved areas, there’s “an emotional and mental tax that comes with it. But I like doing my little bit to maybe tip the scales.”
Photography by Antonio Diaz / iStock / Getty Images Plus / via Getty Images
Installing Ceiling Fan
In old homes in neglected neighborhoods, it’s rarely just a “little bit,” though. For every problem fixed, there could be five more to solve—in 2022, Mission served 200 households and made an average of 15 repairs per household. Costs add up quickly, and though Mission is well-funded by both the city and federal dollars, the resources it has to work with aren’t infinite. “I’ve often made the not-so-funny joke that I could go outside our building and shout, ‘Mission: St. Louis is doing free home repairs!’ and I’d be talking to someone in five minutes,” Martin says. He wants the program to stay in its lane and focus on moderate home repair, but Mission is building strategic partnerships to better serve clients.
Mission now partners with the occupational therapy program at Saint Louis University, and a therapist often joins the contractors on home visits, learns more about how clients live, and advises modifications. The contractors can then assess the structure and ensure they’ll work. There’s an almost-therapeutic element to it, explains Martin. “We can address the physical,” he says. “We are equally treating the emotional—just being there, having someone talk to you, and knowing that you are heard. We’re there for you.”
MORE TO KNOW
ON A MISSION
THE MINOR HOME REPAIR PROGRAM IS JUST ONE ASSET THAT CITY RESIDENTS CAN TAP AT MISSION: ST. LOUIS. HERE ARE SOME OF THE ORGANIZATION’S OTHER PROJECTS.
Each1
For this program, Mission pairs participants with a coach to offer support in job-readiness training or life-skills training in areas such as parenting. Mission can also help with transportation, child care, and professional clothing for job interviews.
Beyond School
Mission pairs reading tutors with students at St. Louis Language Immersion Schools, Lafayette Prep Academy, and Kairos Academies. Students who enter the program are, on average, one and a half grade levels behind in reading. In the 2021–’22 school year, 98 percent of program participants improved their reading skills.
Beyond Charity
The Minor Home Repair program is part of Mission’s Beyond Charity initiative. As part of Beyond Charity, Mission also offers an affordable Christmas event where participants can shop for reduced-price presents for their families.
Neighborhood Healing Network
Participants in this program will get help applying for public benefits, access violence-survivor resources and drop-in emotional support, and receive job training and leadership classes.
