Revitalize Milwaukee was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as one of 32 organizations nationally to receive the funding.
The Older Adult Home Modification grant will support Revitalize Milwaukee’s work to complete home modifications and limited repairs in 90 units for low-income elderly homeowners. The HUD program is designed to enable elderly people to remain in their homes through low-cost home modifications that reduce the risk of falling, increase accessibility and improve general safety.
HUD recently announced it awarded $30 million in grants to nonprofits, local governments and public housing authorities nationally for the program. The beneficiaries include 16 organizations that work in rural settings and 16 that work in urbanized settings. Revitalize Milwaukee is the only Wisconsin organization to receive funding.
Revitalize said it will work with medical and social service provider partners on the improvements.
“This vital funding, under HUD’s Older Adults Home Modification Program, will help provide sustainable access to community assets for older Americans in Milwaukee,” said HUD Midwest deputy regional administrator James Cunningham. “It will promote independence to reside safely in the least restrictive setting avoiding a more costly institutional setting.”
Revitalize was founded in 2000 to help low-income city residents, including veterans and senior citizens, with housing resources and major home repairs. It has become the largest – and only free – provider of these housing services in the state, having invested over $18 million in the community over the past 21 years.
In addition to its year-round programs, Revitalize hosts its annual Block Build MKE two-day home repair and beautification initiative, in which hundreds of volunteers complete work on a few dozen homes in a concentrated area of a Milwaukee neighborhood.
This year’s event is scheduled for Aug. 13-14 in the Lincoln Village neighborhood on the city’s south side.
