Richmond Heights recently announced that the city was going to continue to partner with Community Housing Solutions in order to help provide funds for repairs for seniors living in their homes. Chelsey Kovar, the director of Economic and Community Development, said that many seniors struggle finding help installing smaller upgrades like handrails and pull-bars in their homes and that this program was one way to assist them. “It’s to support home owners by providing essential repair services so that seniors could remain comfortably living in their home and make sure that property maintenance gets taken care of and that their home remains a valuable asset,” Kovar said. “Community Housing Solutions has been around for years and years, so we’ve seen them produce the solutions.” She said that CHS would be the ones conducting the vetting and implementation of the program. “They were able to give us a portion of funding for this program and the county was able to give us funding for the program, so we were able to put those two together,” Kovar said. “They are going to make sure they do the intake forms, following up with residents and getting those repairs taken care of for them. “A lot of seniors are on one income or a fixed income and are getting older and don’t have the ability to do these normal everyday repairs to their homes, and we don’t want to see something that is normal wear and tear that happens to a home exacerbate into a bigger problem.” “We are very lucky that we have newer housing stock,” Kovar continued. “So, we don’t find that homes are in significant disrepair, but this is just going to combat that even more.” She said that many people can’t afford to put modifications into their home that might make it easier for seniors or disabled people to move around their house, and that this program could help with that. “We want to make sure people can stay in their homes,” Kovar said. “They need railings, grab bars, things to just give them dignity in living in their own home and staying in their community. “A lot of other programs have requirements that the repair has to be a huge repair or the repair can only be a small repair,” she added. “This one kind of goes across the spectrum and is based on the needs of the individual which is really nice.” More information on how to apply for the program and its requirements can be found by contacting Kovar at 216-486-3927 or by visiting Community Housing Solutions’ website, yourchs.org.