Home Repair Program

Habitat SHR Home Repair Program's mission is to assist low-income and disabled homeowners with much needed home repairs to make their homes warm, safe and dry. We also address repairs that are a potential health risk to the home's inhabitants.

 We currently manage the City of Chesapeake's Critical Home Repair program and have grant funding to assist in other cities. 

​

If you are seeking assistance for critical home repairs such as needing a new roof, assistance with your HVAC, plumbing, or electrical systems, you may qualify for one of our programs.

Please carefully read below before completing our form to request assistance.

To qualify for repairs, you must have proof of home owners insurance and your home must be built on a permanent foundation (slab, block, or crawl).  

Qualifications:

1.  Primary residence must be within South Hampton Roads (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield/Isle of Wight)

2.  Primary residence must be a single-family dwelling.

3.  Primary residence must be owned by the applicant.

4. Home must be located on a permanent foundation, be it block, slab or crawlspace. 

5.  Must have owned and lived primarily in their residence, without interruption, for at least the preceding 24 months.

6.  Must be willing to commit to owning and primarily living in their residence for at least 60 months following the affiliate’s completion of repairs on the home.

7. Must have proof of home owner's insurance. 

8.  Must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

9.  Current annual total household income for all adults over 18 living in the home should be no greater than 60% of the current Area Median Income (AMI) in South Hampton Roads. 2022 AMI is $93,500

10. Must have evidence of income, either through a copy of bank statements, W-4, SSA-1099, or previous year's tax form for all members of the household living in the residence over the age of 18.

11. Must not have any past due mortgage or property taxes.

12. Must have demonstrated need for a repair that will return the home to “Warm, Safe, and Dry” condition

13. Must provide all documentation to determine qualification.

14. Must be willing to sign a Habitat SHR Home Repair Agreement which indicates that should you sell the home within five years, you will be responsible to reimbursing the costs of your repairs back to Habitat SHR. 

​

General Process:

1. When we are able to accept requests, you will be placed on a waitlist, depending on whether or not you are a veteran or which city you live. 

2. Once funding is available, depending on where the funds are available to assist, we make calls off the wait list to see if those waiting are still seeking help with repairs. Please be sure your voicemail box is set up and not full, so if you do not answer we can leave a message. After three failed attempts to reach you, we will remove your name from our waitlists.  

3. We will schedule an assessment of your home, and take pictures the areas of the home that need repairs. We may also need to take pictures of the front, sides and back of the home to submit for a historical resources review.

4. You will be asked to complete an application which asks for information about your finances and bills. You will need to know the balance of your mortgage (if you still owe on one) and what the monthly payments are.

5. If there is not a mortgage, you will need to provide evidence of home owner's insurance.

6. Veterans will have to give proof of "Honorable Discharge", so we ask you to ensure you have a DD214 or similar document for our assessor to view during their visit.

7. Once we have received your application we will review your eligibility. The next steps depend on the funding source for your repairs and can take several months, we ask for patience during this time.

8. Once an application is approved and results from any Environmental Review are returned, we will schedule a second house visit with a contractor to get a quote for the work. 

9. Once quotes are approved, we will write a Partnership Agreement between the homeowner and Habitat SHR that details the scope of work and that there will be no cost to the homeowner, so long as they certify that they will remain in the house a minimum of five years after the repairs are completed.

10. Our contractor will schedule work with you, and we will make periodic checks to take progress photos and to ensure the work it is being done to our standards.

11. At the completion of the work we will take final pictures and finalize your project. 

​

If you have questions about our home repair program, or to learn
how you can help please email:

homerepairs@shrhabitat.org