Pandemic or no, ReHabitat for Humanity continues to aid area veterans with home repairs – Tyler Morning Telegraph

Visit Larry Harrisons home around this time last year, and youd find a peeling, dripping and water-stained ceiling, a tangle of wires sticking out haphazardly from the electrical box, and a front-porch step crumbled to near nothing.

That step, although bolstered with new wood in the time since, still makes for a steep drop-off, giving Harrison trouble each time he heads out his front door.

Its rough getting down there, Harrison admitted.

Harrison, a Navy veteran, contracted polio as an infant, and, later on, lost his knee cap when he was involved in a bad truck wreck. So walkings not always so easy.

But because his washer and dryer are located in a storage shed outside his house, he has to do an awful lot of it lugging heavy baskets of laundry down off that sloping, decaying porch each time he does his wash.

Yeah, it is tirin, Harrison said. Its limited me on climbing and getting up and walking all the time.

But thanks to a series of grants obtained by the Habitat for Humanity of Smith Countys ReHabitat program which provides seniors, veterans, people with disabilities and low-income individuals with critical home repairs that porch will soon be fixed, and the washer and dryer will be relocated inside the 1623 E. Line St. home.

Since last October, the house has made massive progress, already.

My electrical has been redone, Harrison began. They put a new meter box out there and they put all new windows in and new doors. They insulated the ceiling, theyve done some sheet rock in there that fell down. So far, its goin good.

As with most things, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the service projects offered up through Habitat for Humanity.

The cost of critical repairs has grown as shifts in supply and demand caused the cost of lumber to skyrocket its increased probably 200 percent, Raimund Gideon, director of construction, estimated and lengthened the time it takes to get the job done.

While Gideon expects Harrisons home repairs will be completed sometime before the years end, Harrison hopes they come sooner rather than later.

We just have to get it finished, he said, chuckling.

Harrison inherited the home built in 1935 from his mother, and has lived in it sporadically since the early 60s.

After living in it for that period of time, it was just goin down hill, Harrison said. Its been kind of rough.

In Smith County and beyond, Harrison is far from alone in those experiences.

There is a substantial need, Gideon said. A lot of times, you drive around the neighborhood and you have no idea what the conditions look like inside. The 10 years that Ive been here, we have averaged about 150 critical repairs a year. Its an eye opener.

Some homes dont have exterior doors. Many times, the roofs are failing and water will pour straight through, Gideon said. And with so many needed repairs, health and safety take first priority.

Basically, what I do is a triage of the house, Gideon said. ... Is there leaking water? Are the gas appliances outdated? Is everything functioning properly to where somebody could live safely in the home?

The answer, he said, is often no.

Gideon then works with funding agencies to acquire the grants necessary to ensure those homes are repaired and made safe and livable once again.

Over the course of the past year, Harrison has seen his house transformed with the installation of a heating and cooling system, much-needed foundation and roof repairs, and fresh coats of paint that have rendered his home an unmistakable baby blue.

I think it was really a big mental transformation, Gideon said of Harrisons reaction to the recent updates. Their attitude about themselves and their environment changes dramatically (when their homes are repaired). If you live in a house thats decrepit and in need of repair it leads to a level of depression. When their homes are fixed, they can take pride in them again.

Harrisons begun that part, already, and added that hes very grateful for the help thats allowed him to feel comfortable at home once again.

Its hard to find people who does things like that, Harrison said. People just, I dont know, they seem to not care. So this is well appreciated.

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Pandemic or no, ReHabitat for Humanity continues to aid area veterans with home repairs - Tyler Morning Telegraph