Habitat for Humanity launches home repairs, renos program

Winnipeg's Habitat for Humanity is branching out withHabitat Handyman, an initiativeto help low- and middle-income homeowners with small repairs and renovations.

"It's very, very difficult to get a contractor to come out to do a small job for you,"said Sandy Hopkins, CEO of the organization.

"If you need a new door hung, for example, or your fence needs to be repaired or replaced, or your front porch needs to be fixed or a piece of drywall needs to be put in, it's very hard to get a contractor out."

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The City of Winnipeg offers programs to helphomeowners keep their houses in good condition and there are grants available, but they aren't well-used, he said.

Ahandyman with more than 30 years of experienceand a team of volunteers will handle the repairs.There is a fee, but the handyman is willing to teach people how to do repairs themselves.

"We're very flexible in terms of how we interact with each individual customer," he said.

"Over time we're hoping that we'll see a lot of homes that are deteriorating slowly return to be stronger units and will last much longer than they would if they didn't receive this kind of attention."

Habitat Handyman launches Thursday and while it's designed for low- and middle-income earners, anyone can use the service.