LEWISTON — Lewiston-Auburn residents often have to spend a lot of time getting help for their homes.
They go to this agency for lead abatement, that office for weatherization, this agency for mold. Each place has different guidelines, different applications. Residents could spend days going from one to the other.
A dozen community groups and government agencies hope to change all that.
On Wednesday, 14 organizations signed on to a Green & Healthy Homes Initiative Compact, an agreement that they will work together and streamline the process for people looking for help.
“It just kind of made sense to begin looking at housing holistically, not just for lead and not just for asthma,” said Steven Johndro, executive director of Healthy Androscoggin.
After more than a year of planning and coordinating, the agreement-signing was a jovial affair.
“We have spent about 14 months coming to this moment,” said Shanna Rogers, community developer for Community Concepts and Green & Healthy Homes Initiative coordinator.
More than two dozen people filled a room at Community Concepts to witness the signing of the agreement. When it was time, they got up, one by one, to add their signatures.
“True partnership takes work and it takes time,” said Ruth Ann Norton, president and CEO of Green & Healthy Homes Initiative. “Watch how fast things happen when we work together.”
The initiative is a nationwide effort to replace standalone programs with more comprehensive housing help. Sixteen other communities have joined the initiative, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago and New Haven, Conn.
“It’s no surprise to any of us that we have housing issues in Lewiston,” City Manager Ed Barrett said. “These are not issues that the city can solve on its own. It really does take all of us working together to try and resolve these issues.”
Healthy Androscoggin brought the idea to Lewiston-Auburn after learning about it through a group in Baltimore. For more than 14 months, more than a dozen Lewiston-Auburn groups have worked together to align goals and coordinate their work and funding.
The plan: one-stop help for local people.
“There will be a referral function, an intake and application function that’s served in one location,” Rogers said. “People can fill out one application and find out what they’re eligible for and what their home needs to be a healthy home. And then whatever interventions are taken in that home will be coordinated.”
The 14 groups signing on to the compact so far: Androscoggin Head Start, Bates College, Central Maine Healthcare, City of Lewiston, Community Concepts, Community Concepts Finance Corp., DFD Russell Medical Centers, Healthy Androscoggin, Lewiston and Auburn housing authorities, local contractor Mattra, the Neighborhood Housing League, SeniorsPlus and St. Mary’s Health System.
Others, including the city of Auburn, have expressed interest in signing.
In Lewiston, the members of the new alliance gathered for photos once the key documents were signed.
“This is the very first step,” Rogers cautioned the group.
Even so, optimism ran high.
“I look forward to accomplishing great things,” Barrett said.
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