Helping Hands Grant Program

Sometimes, our neighbors just need a little helping hand.

In 2012, we created a grant program to help our members make critical repairs and accessibility modifications to their manufactured or floating homes so that more manufactured and floating home communities could retain their aging populations. Without repairs and renovations, many in this age bracket have to leave their homes and rely on others to furnish them shelter.

GOALS

The goal of the grant is to promote aging in place and improve the quality of life for manufactured home park and floating home marina residents in Oregon through providing accessibility improvements and essential repairs to the homes of residents with limited incomes.

PROJECT TYPES

The improvements may consist of either essential home repairs or accessibility improvements (cosmetic or luxury improvements are not eligible for this program).

GRANT AMOUNTS

Applicants are limited to $2,000 projects with OSTA paying ¾ of the total cost, not to exceed $1,500 per project.

PROGRAM FUNDING

The Helping Hands Grant Program is funded soley by OSTA members’ annual dues and donations.

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Years the Program has Been Giving
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Grants Amounts Awarded
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Number of Members Helped

Program Objectives

  1. To provide accessibility improvements (such as door widening, replacement of door handles, ramps or installation of grab bars) or essential home repairs (such as replacement of rotten decks or electrical or plumbing repairs) that enable park and marina residents on limited incomes to remain in their homes as they age or to prevent them from being evicted.
  2. To build a stronger sense of community in individual parks and marinas through asking resident associations to identify  sources of volunteer and/or paid labor and supplies, both within and outside the community, to assist their neighbors in need and to obtain the repairs as economically as possible.

Grant Eligibility

  • Applicant must be an OSTA member in good standing.
  • Applicant may apply no more often than once every two years.
  • Requests for aid must be for home modifications that aid aging in place or for repairs to protect homeowner’s health or safety, or to avoid eviction.
  • The amount of each Helping Hand grant is limited to $2,000 with OSTA paying 75% and the applicant paying the remaining 25%.
  • The total lifetime amount a household receives including the first grant and any subsequent awards may not exceed $1,500.
  • Applicants must retain OSTA membership to be eligible for subsequent awards.
  • Applicant’s total household income must be below 250% of the current year federal poverty thresholds.Our 2020 grant household income limits are as follows:
    1. One member, income limit < $31,900
    2. Two members, income limit < $43,100
    3. Three members, income limit < $54,300
    4. Four members, income limit < $65,500
    5. Five members, income limit = $76,700
    6. Six members, income limit = $87,900
    7. For more 6+ members, to calculate the income limit, use $87,900 as a base amount and add $11,200 for each additional household member beyond six.

NOTE: Income is based on the most recent adjusted gross income on tax returns or social security and retirement statements. Assets like savings accounts, homes, cars, jewelry, stocks and bonds are not figured into eligibility for an OSTA Helping Hand grant. Income limits will be adjusted yearly to reflect current year federal guidelines.

Sometimes, asking for help is the bravest move you can make. You don’t have to go it alone.

APPLY FOR THE OSTA HELPING HANDS GRANT

*See the instructions below for saving and printing a fillable PDF, and submitting the application.

This application can be submitted in one of two ways:

  • US MAIL:  Print this application, fill it out by hand, gather supporting documentation, and mail to OSTA’s PO Box (found on the application).
  • EMAIL:  Fill out the application from a computer and attach it to an email, along with your supporting scanned documentation, and send to: helping@oregontenants.com

INSTRUCTIONS for Fillable PDF to be submitted via email:

Please Note:   Complete Forms Offline in the Adobe Reader.  Avoid Completing Forms Online within your Browser. 

Although you can fill in a form while it is displayed within your browser, we strongly recommend that you not do so. You will lose all entered form data if you browse to other web pages in the same browser window that you are using to display the screen fillable form.  You run the risk of accidentally deleting all of your entered form data by inadvertently clicking on the “back or “forward” buttons on your browser.  Clicking either of these buttons will close the form and delete of all your information.

We recommend the following Best Practices for filling out our OSTA fillable online forms without losing your data:

  • Click on the above button to open the Helping Hands Application
  • Once opened, (do not begin filling out the form yet) select “File” from the menu.
  • From the drop-down menu, select “Export to PDF”
  • Choose a place where the file will be saved down locally to your computer.
  • Navigate to where you locally saved the file on your computer and open the PDF from there.
  • You can now fill out the form.
  • NOTE: You may also “File>Save” it and finish it later. You can repeat this as many times as it takes to complete the form.
  • You can sign it digitally, or you can choose to print a hard copy, sign the hard copy, scan the signed application, and email it to us.
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