Affordable home repairs preserve homeownership in Thurston County.

Our skilled construction staff and volunteers help qualified homeowners with limited incomes, with a variety of repairs meant to preserve the house. Homeowners are left with a renewed sense of pride and the ability to enjoy their homes in dignity, safety, and health for years to come.

Our Critical Home Repair program aims to provide stability for homeowners by preserving older homes for safer, easier maintenance.

We facilitate a variety of interior and exterior improvements, including:

  • Steps, porch, or wheelchair ramp construction

  • Walkways

  • Window repair or replacement

  • Exterior door repair or replacement

  • Exterior scraping, caulking, and painting

  • Extensive siding and trim repair or replacement

  • Interior accessibility such as doorways and bathrooms

  • Interior repairs needed for the health and safety of the occupants

  • Other repairs will be considered on a case-by-case basis

How do I get started?

Our Critical Home Repair program is offered on a first-qualified, first-served basis and is dependent on financial qualification, need, willingness to partner with Habitat, and the availability of funding.

Here’s how the process works:

  • Apply

  • Financial Review

  • Home Assessment

  • Contract

  • Payment

  • Construction

  • Volunteering

How do I qualify?

Applicants must meet seven criteria to qualify for our Critical Home Repair program.

  • 1. You own and reside in a home located within Thurston County.

  • 2. You meet the income guidelines. Our repair program serves homeowners who earn less than 80% of the Area Median Income. (Some grants have lower percentage requirements.)

  • 3. You need improved housing. Your home is causing negative effects on your health, safety, or financial well-being.

  • 4. You are unable to afford and/or perform the repairs yourself but are willing to contribute a percentage of the repair costs.

  • 5. You have homeowner’s insurance and are current on all mortgage payments.
  • 6. You are willing to partner with Habitat. Our programs are built on partnership, and applicants provide “sweat equity” working with Habitat construction staff and volunteers on home repair projects. You must provide copies of all required documentation, be honest and cooperative with Habitat, and complete a minimum of eight hours of sweat equity.
  • 7. Understand that repairs may be completed by SPSHFH’s dedicated volunteers and staff and/or other community members or organizations.

Here are answers to the questions we hear most.

 Yes, our program does have a repayment component, all repair costs are subsidized by grant funding and we offer no interest payment plans with affordable monthly payments.

This is a donation of your time. You or a qualifying family member must work alongside Habitat construction staff and Habitat volunteers, either on the work on your home, welcoming volunteers, or other volunteer work on Habitat job sites, in our offices, or in our Stores. A total of 8 hours is required, and can be completed by you and/or a family member.

Critical Home Repair services are made possible thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and donors under the supervision of experienced Habitat for Humanity construction staff.

Larger, more complicated projects or those that require skilled labor may be conducted by licensed subcontractors and Habitat for Humanity construction staff.

Yes. The home must be owner-occupied.

Yes, depending on the grant funding we have available at the time.

Habitat is not alone in this work. Other agencies in Thurston County providing home repairs and weatherization include Rebuilding Together Thurston County and the Community Action Council of Lewis, Mason, and Thurston counties.

Habitat asks for tax and other income verification documents to fulfill our grant obligations. We are only allowed to serve homeowners whose income does not exceed 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) for Thurston County. If we do not verify income, we could lose our funding, and the program would cease to exist.

As part of your partnership with Habitat, we ask that you serve as an ambassador for our organization and the repair programs we provide. You can tell your story better than anyone else, and you can help reach other homeowners who may need our services. You can also help us attract large donors to the program by allowing us to showcase your project.