Fair Housing Month: Charlotte Volunteers 'Trade Blackberrys for Toolboxes'

The Charlotte Regional Realtor Association hosted its second annual Realtors® Care Day yesterday, coinciding with both Fair Housing Month and National Volunteer Week. An initiative of the Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association Housing Opportunity Foundation, this all-day, community-wide home-repair project reaches out to homeowners with critical maintenance needs each year.

According to the Association's Web site, Realtors® Care Day was created out of a desire to help people whose financial situation has prevented them from being able to keep up with the upkeep:

"Faced with economic challenges not seen in at least a generation, many over-extended homeowners are forced to choose between paying their mortgage payment or performing basic repairs. While it is impossible to help everyone, we can make a significant impact on our community's elderly and disabled, and others living in unsafe or substandard conditions. Realtors® will be the helping hands that these homeowners desperately need."

At last year's inaugural event, the Association reports that over 600 volunteers made improvements to 33 homes, providing an estimated over $250,000 worth of home repairs and adaptive or safety modifications for elderly and disabled residents.

Return tomorrow for the twenty-fifth part of this special "Fair Housing Month" feature at Fairhousingblog.com.