CRITICAL HOME REPAIR

Keeping Our Neighbors Safe at Home

Our Critical Home Repair (CHR) program provides affordable repairs to low-income homeowners in Cumberland County. Repairs can include, but aren’t limited to roof patches or repairs, accessibility modifications, structural fixes, and more!

Qualifying House Repairs

Structural issues,
such as rot

Accessibility
issues

Unsafe roofing
or flooring

Lack of
heat or water

Electrical
hazards

Plumbing
hazards

What Critical Home Repair Does Not Address:

  • Painting or cosmetic updates
  • Bathroom or kitchen renovations or remodels (except to make necessary health and safety repairs)
  • Appliance repairs
  • Foundations
  • Ramps (visit AlphaOne for this service.)
  • Weatherization or energy efficiency updates

RESOURCES

Do you need other assistance?

Maine Low Income Home Energy Assistance

Maine State Housing Authority’s Weatherization Program

Maine State Housing Authority’s Central Heating Improvement Program

Efficiency Maine

Don’t See The Resource You Need?

Contact Molly Lajoie at molly@habitatme.org or call (207) 772-2151 x 104 for additional info.

Keeping our Neighbors
Safe at Home.

Take the first step towards a warmer, safer, and drier home – reach out with the interest form below!

FAQs

The Critical Home Repair program is an affordable home repair service for homeowners who have an issue impacting their health and safety that they could not otherwise afford to fix. This includes leaky roofs, inaccessibility due to age or disability, electrical hazards, rot, and more.

To qualify you must:

  • Own your home (it’s okay if you have a mortgage)
  • Have lived in your home for 3 years
  • Tax assessment of your home can be no more than $350,000
  • Earn less than 80% of the area median income (AMI) Check the limits here.
  • Have a repair that is critical in nature.

Are your entrance stairs rotted or your door not working? Are you worried that you can’t move around your house safely? Is your roof leaking? Is your electricity or plumbing not working? These are the types of repairs that are critical. Are you still not sure? Call or email Molly, at molly@habitatme.org or 207-772-2151 x 104.

The cost of a repair depends on the repair being done and your annual income. All labor by Habitat staff and subcontractors is donated by Habitat. Homeowners are responsible for a portion of the cost of materials as it relates to their income. For example: If your income is 30% of the area median income, you will pay for 30% of the cost of materials. 

Habitat will serve a homeowner once every twelve months. You may reapply one year after your repair was completed.

Success Stories

To say that Habitat for Humanity made my house a home, I’m not kidding. Those are huge things that they did for me. And they’ve made it so my house is not going to rot again.

- Katherine, Harrison

Success Stories

As a single mom, Jeanette worked hard to buy and take meticulous care of her home. After 30 years of homeownership, when she found rot from a small leak, she was devastated. Then Habitat offered her an affordable repair, and it was a big relief to have it fixed. “It gives me a lot of emotional comfort to know that even if you can’t do some job, I can come to you [for a referral].”

- Jeanette, Gorham