Interest-free fix-ups for older adults

Thomas and Joyce Fox, ages 68 and 61, respectively, have lived in their single-family house on Nassau Road in Bellmore for 18 years. There were improvements that they had long wanted to make, but they were too expensive. The Foxes and many other older adults on fixed incomes, however, are now eligible for the Town of Hempstead’s Senior Citizen Home Improvement Program, which provides no-interest loans to qualifying seniors.

“We had the original cedar-shake siding from 1926,” Joyce Fox said. [The shingles] were gray, with holes in them, no gutters, and we had this old oil-burning heating system.” Through the town’s new home-improvement program, the Foxes replaced their siding, installed gutters and converted their old oil heater to a natural-gas system.

“Friends and family pass our house now, they barely recognize it,” said Joyce.

The program provides interest-free loans for siding, roofs, windows and home heating systems. It does not require repayment until a home is sold or transferred.

Town Supervisor Anthony Santino explained thatthe program is being funded by a $700,000 federal Community Development Block Grant. Santino offered details of the new program at a March 9 news conference outside the newly upgraded Fox household. Town Council members Erin King Sweeney and Anthony D’Esposito joined him.

“It can be difficult for senior citizens, many of whom are living on fixed incomes, to make ends meet,” said Santino. “Through the Hempstead Town Senior Home Improvement Program, we are making it possible for mature residents confronted with our region’s high cost of living to upgrade their houses and remain in the communities they love.”

The town’s Department of Planning and Economic Development is overseeing the program, Santino said. The department determines eligibility, assists applicants with the required paperwork, inspects the property and offers suggestions for improvement. Also, town inspectors give a complete construction write-up and estimate, assist in obtaining bids from approved contractors, inspect the work while in progress and certify that it has been completed properly before issuing final payment to the contractor.