March 20, 2025
Constance Siu, executive director of the North Newstead Association, highlighted the severe home repair challenges in north St. Louis during the “Preserving Homes, Strengthening Communities: A Home Repair Symposium” hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the University of Missouri–St. Louis. The symposium brought together nearly 75 attendees, including local and national experts, to discuss the economic and social impact of home repairs. Todd Swanstrom, UMSL’s E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Community Collaboration and Public Policy, has been instrumental in researching home repair needs and establishing the St. Louis Home Repair Network. His team’s 2023 study found that many older homeowners in St. Louis required essential repairs such as electrical work, weatherization, and HVAC updates, with an estimated total cost exceeding $300 million. Rising repair costs have placed a heavy burden on low-income residents, often forcing them to choose between home maintenance and basic necessities.
Panelists and researchers emphasized that home repairs are crucial not just for individual homeowners but also for preserving affordable housing and improving community stability. Experts, including Karen Black of May 8 Consulting and Carlos Martin from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, underscored the systemic nature of the issue, stressing that maintaining existing housing stock is as important as building new homes. The symposium also addressed how home repairs can enhance wealth preservation, rental housing stability, health outcomes, and weather resilience. Debra Cornell, a Rebuilding Together volunteer who benefitted from home repairs, shared a personal testimony about how modifications such as an accessible shower transformed her quality of life. Swanstrom urged policymakers to integrate home repairs into the broader affordable housing discussion, citing that the U.S. loses around 400,000 homes annually to deterioration—units that could otherwise contribute to addressing the housing crisis. Researchers involved in the symposium are working on an edited book to further highlight the importance of home repairs in national housing policy.
