Wells Fargo, Habitat for Humanity help homeowners age in place

A $7.5 million Wells Fargo Foundation grant is helping homeowners stay in their homes as part of a nearly 30-year partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

Eric Best,

Staff Writer

[Video overview: Mary Mack, Retired CEO of Consumer and Small Business Banking at Wells Fargo; Michael Cox, VP of Individual Giving, Habitat for Humanity International; and homeowner Robert share thoughts on the impact of a Wells Fargo Foundation grant to Habitat. ]

[Music]

[Cheering]

[Robert, Homeowner]

This is keeping me from having to move. I’m able to live in my home for as long as I need to.

[Mary Mack, Retired CEO of Consumer and Small Business Banking, Wells Fargo]

Habitat really is probably one of our employees’ favorites, too. It’s really cool when you can find something like Habitat that so aligned with the mission of the company and so aligned with employees’ desires to volunteer in the community. This year we’ll build or repair 360 homes across the country and make a huge difference. It’s $7.5 million — $240,000 of which is being spent in Des Moines this week, including on the house behind me. That belongs to Robert.

[On-screen text]

$7.5M donation in 2023 to build and repair 360 homes

[Robert]

I have a son and a daughter. They both use wheelchairs. Okay. So my son, he comes over every weekend, and it’s been really a hassle trying to get him in the house and back out of the house. He has to get out of his chair. Is currently putting in a ramp in the front of my home. This way, the only thing he needs is somebody to hold the door for him, and he can actually go right on in.

[Michael Cox, VP of Individual Giving, Habitat for Humanity International]

Everyone in the world ought to have a place to call home, a place to live, a place that they feel is sufficient for them.

[Mack]

This is really one of the truly delightful privileges that we have at Wells Fargo as a partner with our communities to help lives.

[Robert]

So it has made a difference, and it will continue to make a difference.

{Cheering]

[On-screen text]

Watch: Robert is one of about a dozen Des Moines area homeowners who recently had wheelchair ramps and other improvements installed in their homes as a result of a $7.5 million Wells Fargo Foundation grant to Habitat for Humanity International. (1:47)

Credit: Nathan Bender

For Robert, a new wheelchair ramp means his son doesn’t have to get out of his wheelchair to come inside his home every weekend.

The ramp, as well as a new door, are possible through a $7.5 million Wells Fargo Foundation grant to Habitat for Humanity International, which is already being put to good use in Des Moines, Iowa, where roughly 130 Wells Fargo and community volunteers recently completed critical home repairs and updates for about a dozen local homeowners.

“[Wells Fargo’s investment] has made a difference in the community itself, not just for me individually, but for all the community,” said Robert, 66, who has two adult children who use wheelchairs.

The work aims to help families live more affordably and enable the country’s aging population to remain in their homes. About one in five Americans will be 65 years or older by 2030, yet some 19 million Americans already live in homes that are in disrepair or are ill-equipped to meet their mobility needs.

“The program with Habitat started 30 years ago in Des Moines with a team of our employees. We built a house with a family of five. And now we’re in cities across the country,” said Mary Mack, Wells Fargo’s retired CEO of Consumer and Small Business Banking. “This year, we’ll build or repair 360 homes across the country and make a huge difference in homeownership and livability.”

Wells Fargo and the Wells Fargo Foundation have donated more than $129 million to Habitat for Humanity and its local affiliates in the past 13 years for new home construction, disaster response, and more.