They can fix it!

North End

William Whyte

North Point Douglas

This year’s deadline for the North End Community Renewal Corporation’s exterior home improvement program is on the horizon.

However, if potential applicants miss the April 11 cutoff date, there will be ample opportunities in the future to repair historic North End homes in an affordable way.

EHIP is an annual grant program aimed at homeowners in the William Whyte and North Point Douglas neighbourhoods. It provides grants to help homeowners repair the exteriors of their houses if they are unable to afford the projects on their own.

“The program is truly astounding,” said Shayla Lacoff, NECRC community housing liaison. “It’s incredible, the way it never loses momentum in the community.”

Examples of improvements these grants fund include repairing leaking roofs, broken eavestroughs and unsafe entrances, as well as adding fences, addressing compliance orders, and more. A full list of what is and isn’t eligible is available on the NECRC website.

“There is never a lack of need when it comes to home maintenance,” Lacoff continued, adding there’s a high need for housing grants throughout the inner city.

Related neighbourhood organizations cover the same scope of needs as the NECRC — such as the West Broadway Community Organization (WBCO), Spence Neighbourhood Association (SNA), Daniel McIntyre/St. Matthews Revitalization Incorporated (DMSMRI), Centennial Community Improvement Association (CCIA), and Chalmers Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation (CNRC) — offer similar “fix-up programs” for their respective communities.

The EHIP program was launched in 2002 — more than 20 years ago — by the North End Revitalization Incorporation, a sister entity to NECRC which continues to administer the grants today. It was created in partnership with William Whyte Neighbourhood Association (WWNA) and the Point Douglas Resident’s Committee (PDRC), to ensure it reflected and continues to reflect the voices of the community, according to the NECRC website.

It was set in motion when the City of Winnipeg designated several inner-city neighbourhoods as home improvement zones in a 2000 study.

“The cost of major repairs for many today is simply out of budget,” Lacoff added. “We fear what will happen to current housing stock without the support it needs to flourish.”

The fear of losing more homes in William Whyte and North Point Douglas is relevant, as countless buildings are boarded up and turned into piles of rubble every year — sometimes within a matter of weeks. The EHIP aims to fix these issues at their very core.

“The financial barriers that disproportionately affect our communities, unfortunately means that home repairs are a lot of the time are not the main priority,” Lacoff said. “Regardless of how (much) homeowners and local property owners wish to maintain their properties.”

“The dream is to work toward expanding the program and continue to grow with the needs of the community,” she said, which could mean increasing grant amounts, eligible projects program capacity, boundaries and more.

For more information, including how to apply, visit necrc.org/programs-services/exterior-home-improvement-program, call 204-927-2341 or email housinggrants@necrc.org