July 14, 2022 - Cover Home Repair

SPEAKER:  Executive Director of COVER, Helen Hong. 
 
Helen Hong, from the Cover Web Page
 
Helen became COVER Home Repair’s Executive Director in September 2022 following the retirement of Bill Neukomm. She had previously spent 6 years on the COVER Board, and also volunteered on home repair projects and in the COVER Store.
 
She is passionate about repairing and improving existing homes as one way to tackle the affordable housing crisis.
 
Helen previously worked at Twin Pines Housing for 13 years, helping first-time buyers access down payment grants. She also helped homeowners make energy-efficient improvements to their homes and funded 3 net-zero homes.
 
She is a Hanover Rotarian.
 
Helen shared her reflections about COVER as a 24-year old organization.
 
 
 
COVER was the first organization Helen came across in 2005 when she first came to the UV. Simon Dennis was there.  She kept returning to COVER to help.  She left her career as a lawyer after 2 years in D.C., discovering that she really enjoyed doing hands-on work with others and getting to know her neighbors.  She’d always lived in big cities and wanted to make connections.  Sharing lunches at work with each other after physical labor helped her connect both with workers and volunteers who made the lunch.
 
She became a COVER board member in 2012 and served for 6 years.  After she left her work at Twin Pines a little later, she became COVER’s executive director.
 
Helen talked about “The Affordable Housing Puzzle” – it’s an issue where many pieces must be put together to succeed. COVER’s work is preserving affordable housing.  She praised Twin Pines’s work to build new units, but says that we it is also very economical to preserve existing homes.

 
As individuals age, their income doesn’t go as far as it did, and keeping up a building becomes tougher.  One of COVER’s initiatives is their “Aging in in Place” program.  It’s aims include making homeownership affordable and sustainable while building resilience in community, making it more common for neighbor to help neighbor.
 
Helen showed a series of slides enumerating various aspects of COVER.
  • The average repair COVER does costs $3,800 to save a home, while it could cost $100,000 to build new.
  • COVER was founded 24 years ago by Simon Dennis and some Dartmouth students.  COVER now has 12 staff, half in the COVER re-sale store and half home on the repair team.
  • Each year, COVER averages 80 projects during the warm weather – roofs, grab bars, deck, flooring.  In winter, they manage 40-50 weatherization projects.  Between 250-300 volunteers are needed.
  • Homeowner involvement – they prepare lunch and work alongside if they have the means.  Morning, closing and lunchtime circles build friendships.
  • The home must be within a 45-minute drive of COVER headquarters in WRJ.
  • The home must have an income no higher than 60% of the county’s “area median income,” which is now less than $3,000/month.  40% of Grafton County older adults would qualify, said Helen. 
  • We have a problem in New England:  the population is aging faster than in other parts of the country AND there are fewer affordable senior housing units. 
  • Falls are a leading cause of injury for adults, with such falls occurring more often in home than in institutional settings.  25-30% adults over 65 will experience a fall landing them in hospital.  COVER works to remediate such hazards with ramps, handrails, and repairing trip hazards such as uneven floors.
  • Because fuel costs are high and rising, COVER accomplishes “low-hanging fruit” with their weatherization program.  While Tri-County CAP and SEVCA can do deep insulation, COVER can do air sealing around windows and doors.  On average, homeowners are saving 100 gallons of heating oil/year.
  • Mobile/manufactured homes make up 6-10% of the UV’s housing stock, but 50% of COVER’s business is from this type of homeowner.  Because there’s a low entry cost to manufactured housing, it is often the only pathway to homeownership for lower income folks.  On the other hand, heating and cooling costs are MORE expensive over the life of the home.
  • COVER provides “enhanced weatherization,” which includes framing around and insulating the underside of homes to build a perimeter wall.  Helen’s preliminary data indicates that winter temperature in the under-home space hovers around 40 degrees, enough so that pipes don’t freeze.
  • Helen told us about one homeowner who had 2 manufactured homes glued together leaving two exits each with steep steps front and back.  The homeowner’s son, a person with development disabilities, had already fallen and the homeowner used a walker subsequent to a stroke.  A local church prepared lunches for 2 work-days.  6 volunteers from Ledyard, 2 from Hypertherm, and 3 volunteers from the family worked with COVER staff to build ramps.  The young son had never before worked around power tools but at the end of the day was using a battery-powered drill.  Helen would like to see him volunteering with someone else’s home improvement project.
How can Rotarians help COVER achieve its goals:
  1. Volunteer at the COVER store – Bring retail knowledge – the store provides 30% of COVER’s annual revenue.   Drive around in the truck with us, lift furniture into the truck to return to the store.  COVER has “an amazing hardware section like Dan & Whit’s”; it needs regular assistance to keep it sorted and organized.
  2. Volunteer at a work site”
  • COVER’s now doing some all-women work days
  • Bring a friend or find a proxy
  • Spread the word – more and more of our work is taking place on the outskirts of our area
  1. Shop at or donate items to COVER store
  2. Donate financially.
COVER receives no state or federal funding at this time for their budget of ~$849,000.  Most of the revenue comes from the store, about a third from donors/trusts/businesses, and another third from foundation grants.  50% of expenses are for personnel and the rest for materials, upkeep of the COVER building and vehicles, etc..
 
QUESTIONS:
  • Dave:  Why no government funding?
HH – Our income limits are somewhat fluid because we don’t take governmental funds with their strict requirements.  Helen is looking into some US Department of Agriculture funding.  COVER works with the Vermont Center for Independent living and with Granite State Independent living which have supported some materials costs for ramps for persons with disabilities. Another major concern with governmental funding is very strict reporting requirements.
  • Marilyn:  Donations to store and problems?
HH:  Jamie is our store manager; come see if you haven’t been here rece3ntly as he’s done a great job getting things in shape.  COVER takes “gently used” “functioning” furniture not with stains or holes.  Sometimes can fix wobbly tables.  Please don’t bring us things that cannot be resold.
  • Ahmad:  If a group of Rotarians volunteered on a project, could any liability for damage or harm devolve onto the Club?
HH:  We host about 15 groups a year, ranging from Ledyard Bank, encouraging their staff.  Rotary could come together as a group, but not for a roof project!  A ramp would be a better fit.  We do have liability forms and insurance coverage for volunteers.  Our leaders are skilled in first aid and CPR and take safety seriously.  Go ahead and organize some kind of “build day” and bring a family member or friend.  6-8 people for a ramp with 2 staff members on site works well.  Don’t need experience or to bring any tools.  If a homeowner is unable to make lunch in Lebanon, we can make a note to reach out should such a project come up.
Helen clarified that COVER has general liability coverage like a construction company.
Marilyn pointed out the Rotary International provides all Club’s with insurance covering injuries to non-Rotarians during Club-recognized activities.
Helen pointed out that constructing a ramp offers low opportunities for getting hurt.
  • Rudy:  Do people self-refer for projects?  Social service agencies?
HH:  When I first came to Cover, the distinction was clear:  we market to volunteers and donors about work and the store.  In the past, we didn’t need to do much outreach as we were getting referrals from local organizations.  Most of our current referrals come by word of mouth such as just happened in a manufacture home park in Charlestown were we’re doing quite a lot of work.  Now that more and more of our work is farther away from our core, we may need to reach out to more local towns and entities for referrals, especially Lebanon and Hartford.
  • Marion:  What commitment does a volunteer make?
HH:  Volunteering only for one day.  We ask arrival by 9 AM usually wrap up by 3:30-4:00.  Website tells you the town.  Once you sign up you get the full address.
  • Steve:  Size of the operation: What’s the average job you do during the year?  How do the numbers come about?
HH:  Materials and labor (2 days for 1 staff member) without adding in overhead/administrative costs is about $3,000 for a ramp and $4,500 for a roof, though the full cost is a lot more while still being below market rate.  We do about 15 roofs and 14-15 ramps/year and many smaller projects.  Materials alone in 2021 cost us $116,000; this year we budgeted more for inflation.  Staffing is 50% and a lot of insurance and store overhead and maintaining our building and vehicles mount up.
  • Marion:  Is there an age limit for volunteers
HH:  On the lower age end of things, to operate a power tool, one must be 17+.  We do have some work folks can do if younger; some come with parents – digging post holes, shoveling.  Younger than 16 is hard.
  • Marion:  Have you reached out to schools
HH:  We have a March partnership with Hanover High.  One problem is that our season really starts when school ends and the weather warms.  Dartmouth always requires new outreach.  We hope sometime to offer home repair as a PE credit.
  • Marion:  During the summer between junior and senior years, many kids are looking for volunteer work for their resumés.
At the end of Helen's talk, Bill Secord provided information about our donation in her honor and in honor of David Coombs, Cover's Volunteer Coordinator that are going the the Kilton Library's Childrens Collection.
 
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