Assistance for Building a Wheelchair Ramp for Low Income Homeowner?

November 8, 2017

My mom lives in Pennsylvania. She had a stroke and my sister needs a ramp to get into her house; they are very low income. Does anyone know where she might find assistance?

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Jess
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November 30, 20171 found this helpful

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It sounds like Medicare and Medicaid may have programs to help with this situation. I would also talk to your state or county housing department to see if they have any resources for you.

I also found this link, which looks to be just what you are looking for:

www.ramps.org/free-ramps.htm

I hope they can help you.

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Ask a QuestionHere are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community or ask a new question.

Question: Help Getting a Wheelchair Ramp?

Laura W.

December 2, 2019

I live in Westland Michigan. My next door neighbor fell and had a stroke. She needs a wheelchair ramp and we do not have enough money to help.

We can't find one that is affordable and we're not sure what to do.

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Judy
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December 3, 20191 found this helpful

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I would contact the Council for the Aging, HUD.org, local churches and Habitat for Humanity.

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Question: Home Repair Assistance for Low Income Homeowners?

andie5032ah

July 27, 2018

I work for a private duty care firm. One of their clients has cerebral palsy. His mother uses a walker and cannot physically take care of him completely. Their house is in need of some repair. They have a ramp in front that is getting old and the wood is starting to weaken.

They are unable to make necessary repairs. Please let me know how I can get them some help with repairs to their house. I know they would appreciate it very much.

Answers

poehere
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July 27, 20180 found this helpful

Your best bet is to go to HUD. They have an assistance program for low income or disable people. I also know there are a few government agencies that will give low-interest loans or even offer a certain amount of money to do home repairs if the people qualify.

I would start off with HUD and if you can't get help go to the offices in your state that help handicap people. I don't know where you live so I can't look this up for you. If you let me know what state you live in I can offer a bit more help.

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Judy
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July 28, 20181 found this helpful

HUD.org or Habitat for Humanity

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cybergrannie
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July 28, 20180 found this helpful

Since you have not stated where you live most of the suggestions will be generic and could apply to your area but using your zip code for assistance in your particular area will supply you with local help agencies and these usually are much faster in getting help for people like this.

I would suggest you start with Google - assistance with home repairs for disabled person, low income family - add their zip code. This should supply you with numerous local agencies that can be contacted for help.
It will be a little tricky as you may have to do the initial contact but all of the qualification information will have to be supplied by the family.
Usually, in cases like this, these agencies will send someone out if the person cannot supply the information on the web site or cannot go to the office in person.
I have a suggestion that I have seen produce great results but it will require some of your time. Of course, any of this will have to be done with the family's permission.
Take several photos of the family and the condition of the house; write down their names, address, and describe any problems they are having (I am assuming they are low income family) on paper and make several copies.

Write a cover sheet (or put statement on top of this one page) explaining that they need repair assistance but do not know where to go to ask for help.
You will have to supply someone's phone number for someone to contact with any information.
It always works best if one of these can be taken in person to the offices of places like Salvation Army, Shriners, Lions Club, Masons (even the Womans's Club) and just let them know this family needs help NOW and you are just trying to help and need any information they can supply or any help with who to contact.
These sheets can be mailed but a personal visit always works best.
You can post this sheet or part of it on Craigslist, Facebook, Freecycle, and especially NextDoor as this is a site that is in the neighborhood and I believe you will get offers to help very quickly.

nextdoor.com/.../
Caution: give a lot of thought to where you want to show the actual address or names and maybe only post an area on Internet sites like Craigslist, Freecycle, Facebook as that information should only be given after someone contacts you.
You can also apply with Habitat as they do help with situations like this.
www.habitat.org/.../find-your-local-habitat
Just remember; government agencies tend to have a lot of paperwork and everything takes time so their help will be slow.
And; as a general rule agencies like HUD have a budget and a lot of people asking for help so many times people are put on a waiting list that may take a while to get that help (even if approved).
I do not know if there is a church near by this family but taking one of these "flyers" (or any information) to their office can many times produce almost instant results.

I realize these suggestions are placing a lot of "work" on your part but maybe there is someone you can ask to help with any of this (that may not be able to do repairs)?
It is very good of you to even go so far as to try and get help for this family so I applaud you for this and hope that someone will hear your request and step up to help this family.

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Pghgirl40
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July 28, 20180 found this helpful

Contact your local United Way or local branch of the cerebral palsy foundation. Links for both are below:

www.unitedway.org/find-your-united-way

yourcpf.org/

I have a friend with MS who had success in having the MS society make repairs to his bathroom to make it accessible...they may not be able to help you with ALL the repairs, but could help with some.

Sometimes a local Rotary or Kiwanis or Lions Club group offers grants and labor to help people in the community with needs like you are describing.

If the mom or the son have health insurance...you could try go call their customer services team and ask if the insurance company has any resources that can help them. Some larger insurance companies have resources that they can recommend. The number would be on the back of the insurance card. They most likely would NOT speak to you (HIPAA PRIVACY LAW), but if the mom or the son is able to speak, you can listen to the call on speaker with their permission and guide the call.

You are very kind to help these folks!! I will send up lots of prayers that you find the help they need!! Good luck!!

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Hello
Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 107 Posts

July 31, 20180 found this helpful

just by being willing and able to research for them you are doing a great service.

obvious places to look are

- churches
- local housing authorities
- local habitat for humanity
- any disabilities advocacy group (in particular cerebral palsy)
- any disease victims/survivor group (in particular cerebral palsy)
IE here's a good one ucp.org/