This story breaks my heart...

Cost of upkeep puts older residents at risk of losing homes
Maintenance, loss of insurance put senior citizens at brink of foreclosure
By Maki BeckerNEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 05/16/07 7:41 AM


Marie Lucas has lived her entire life in the Lovejoy District house her grandfather built in 1917. Now she is in danger of losing it.

Her homeowner’s insurance company canceled her policy late last year because the exterior of the house is in terrible disrepair — and Lucas can’t afford to fix it.

With no insurance — a requirement for her mortgage — the mortgage company is now poised to begin foreclosure proceedings. “I was born here,” Lucas said of the only home she has ever known. “I want to die here.”

Lucas’ predicament is one shared by many of the region’s elderly, particularly those in Buffalo.

There are no statistics available on how many local senior citizens have lost their houses because they cannot pay for repairs, but staff members for Buffalo nonprofit groups say the problem is prevalent — and may even be growing.

The Rev. Joseph F. Moreno of St. Lawrence Catholic Church, who has been trying to help Lucas get the $6,000 worth of repairs she desperately needs to keep her home, said he gets three or four calls a week from other elderly parishioners in the same situation.

Carol Brent, staff attorney at Legal Services for the Elderly, who just started handling housing violation cases, said she got six new similar cases just last week.

Laura Kelly, executive director of the Old First Ward Community Center, has a waiting list of more than 90 people — more than half of them senior citizens — needing grants for repairs.

The scenario “is a reality,” according to Bryan M. Cacciotti, executive director of Home- Front Buffalo, an independent nonprofit group that focuses on homeownership issues in the city, and it could get worse as the aging population grows.

“Over my 13-year career in community development,” Cacciotti said, “it’s always been a continuous phenomenon. . . . It’s a challenge that the elderly do encounter. We need to pay close attention.”

Adrian H. Slocum, intake coordinator for aging services at Catholic Charities, said he believes that the situation is getting worse.

“We don’t track foreclosures,” he said, “but we see them.”

Most of his clients are of lower income, but not necessarily in poverty, Slocum said. They have just enough money to pay their bills, buy food and get their medicines, but are at a loss when faced with expensive home repairs.

“Normally, their income goes up 2 percent or less, but the cost of everything else is going up at a much higher rate,” Slocum said. “They’re having a difficult time maintaining their home.”

Rising heating costs also have been a major strain on these senior citizens, he said. In addition, some elderly clients also have gotten into financial trouble by taking out home-equity loans to pay for repairs and then finding out they cannot make their payments.

“It’s a real tough thing,” he said. “They don’t want to leave their homes where they’ve lived 30, 40 and 50 years, but they’re unable to make their payments.”

Often, Slocum said, he finds himself having to try to convince the senior citizens that their best option is to give up their house and move into senior housing.

“We try to honor their wish to stay in their homes, but we also give suggestions at some other housing options,” Slocum said.

Brent, whose group strives to keep the elderly and disabled in their homes, said her clients come to her terrified.

“It’s traumatic for them,” she said.

Most of her elderly clients who face losing their homes come to her when they must deal with housing violations.

Brent has one client who paid more than $4,000 to a contractor who was caught making improper repairs to the man’s house. “The contractor has my client’s money, and my client is now in Housing Court,” she said. “He may lose his house.”

She has seen situations like Lucas’ in which the clients lose their home insurance. In their cases, the banks holding the mortgages have imposed their own insurance policies, which can be as much as three times as expensive. “The mortgage company has a right to protect itself,” she explained, “but you want to get your own insurance.”

Lucas’ house is in such bad shape that her mortgage company cannot find anyone to underwrite her insurance, even at the higher rates, Moreno said.

Brent said she has found that many of her clients simply don’t know how to handle this.

“It’s hard for them when they’re dealing with out-of-town bank companies and a 1-800 number,” she said.

There are organizations in Buffalo that can help, but their resources are limited.

HomeFront administers several programs, including grants for minor home repairs.

The Old First Ward Community Center provides a small number of grants to cover 60 percent of repairs to the houses of the elderly and other moderate- to low-income homeowners. “We helped 12 people with $278,000 in repairs last year,” Kelly said.

This year, she has $300,000 to give out and more than 90 people on her waiting list.

“The urgency is so great,” she said. “I would like to bring in more funds and just keep this rolling.”

Kelly also helps coordinate a yearly volunteer ministry, World Changers, which is bringing 500 people to Buffalo in late July to do home repairs.

As for Lucas, she has been praying for a miracle since she lost her insurance in November.

At Christmas, Moreno said, he came to her home with a little Christmas tree and Communion for her, and the two knelt down to pray. “Baby Jesus,” she said, “please save my house.”

Moreno said he left Lucas’ house that day in tears: “I’m out of miracles on this house.”

Lucas’ house is in dire need of a new roof, gutters and a coat of paint. Moreno estimates the whole project would cost no more than $6,000.

Moreno has reached out to the community, from Lovejoy Council Member Richard A. Fontana to Buffalo Police Lt. John P. King, all of whom are trying to help.

The priest is hoping that some individual or some business will donate the supplies and labor to fix Lucas’ home before the bank forecloses on it: “We’re grasping for straws and a miracle at the same time.”

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