Empowering CAPS Specialists & Homeowners: Tom Jameson on Transforming Lives with the Federal Home Loan Bank Grant Program

Tom Jameson discusses the Federal Home Loan Bank Grant program and the specific program he created in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The program provides grant dollars to qualified homeowners for home modifications and repairs.

Tom explains the income requirements and how to find member banks in your community.

He also highlights the benefits of CAP certification for performing home modification evaluations and accessing grant funds.

Tom shares his background in construction and the impact of CAP certification on his work.

He discusses the SHARP program and the importance of partnerships and collaboration.

Tom encourages others to explore the grant program and consider replicating his model in their communities.

Chapters

00:00
Introduction to the Federal Home Loan Bank Grant Program

02:03
The Affordable Housing Program Initiatives

03:01
Target Audience and Program Specifics

04:25
Senior Homeowners Assistance for Repair Program (SHARP)

06:03
Household Income Requirements

07:49
Finding Member Banks in Your Community

09:35
Costs and Benefits for Homeowners and Banks

11:12
CAP Certification and Home Modification Evaluations

14:44
Tom's Background and Construction Expertise

22:26
The SHARP Program and Partnerships

25:40
Increased Grant Funding and Program Growth

28:35
Reimbursement for Services through the Grant

29:57
Expanding Services and Collaboration Opportunities

33:11
Accessing the Grant Program in Other Communities

38:16
The Importance of Collaboration and Networking

44:02
Taking Advantage of the Grant Program


Contact Information

To find the HUD Income Limits: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il.html

Federal Home Loan Banks Main Site: https://fhlbanks.com/

Tom Jameson/SHARP: SHARPassist@mail.com 

Transcript

Janet (00:00.803)
Hello everyone and thank you for being with me today. My guest is Tom Jameson. He is from West Lafayette, Indiana, home of Purdue University. And Tom was gracious enough to come on my show today because he is going to talk to us about the Federal Home Loan Bank Grant

program that he works with in order to help seniors get loans or have home modifications financed. And he's been doing this for about seven years in his area. And he is going to educate us on how other aging in place professionals, specifically people who have the CAP certification, can also

perform home modification evaluations and get paid through the federal home loan bank program. Tom, thank you for being with us.

Tom Jameson (01:11.118)
It's my pleasure. Thank you for having me today.

Janet (01:13.981)
Yes, I am really excited about learning more about this grant program and specifically the program that you created in your area of West Lafayette, Indiana. So you take it away, Tom.

Tom Jameson (01:34.35)
Okay, well, kind of the bigger picture starts with the federal home loan bank system. There are 11 federal home loan banks around the country, each having a region. So in our region, it's the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, covers all of Indiana and Michigan. And so all the federal home loan banks are made up of member institutions, local banks that are members of the federal home loan bank system that

are financed by the Federal Home Loan Bank to serve their local community. So this is how I'm zeroing in on what we're doing. That part of the charter of the Federal Home Loan Bank is to have an ability to help their member banks serve the communities where they find themselves. And one of the important ways that they do that is through their affordable housing program initiatives. And...

Each federal home loan bank does this differently, but our federal home loan bank of Indianapolis does it in a number of ways, one of which is what they call the Neighborhood Impact Program. And this is a grant program that allows certain qualified homeowners to access grant dollars. So these are not loans. These are not things that put retention agreements on your home. They are pure grants.

And they are then able to address a number of deferred maintenance or aging in place issues in their homes that they normally otherwise wouldn't. So there is a target audience for this specific grant. And then our program, as we have sought to live it out in our local area, is even a little more specifically targeted. When we decided that we wanted to...

to utilize these funds that were just sitting out there asking to be used, we decided to target a demographic in our area of senior homeowners. And we have since broadened that slightly to include disabled homeowners who fall within the guidelines of the Federal Home Loan Bank.

Tom Jameson (03:55.982)
grant guidelines. So that includes being under a certain income limitation based on some HUD numbers that are put out each year, their home ownership, they must own their home, and the type of work that they need to have done. And we have just found incredible success in being able to do a number of things. So this is getting down to the nitty gritty of our program, which we call Sharp.

Janet (04:07.783)
Thank you.

Tom Jameson (04:25.294)
which stands for Senior Homeowners Assistance for Repair Program. We have been able to allow senior and disabled homeowners to age in place, to remain in their homes safely and with integrity and to upgrade their homes. So it's keeping their home values up. It's helping the home values in their neighborhoods.

So part of this initiative came out of a desire from the city and the county to address housing issues and finding ways to keep housing values up. And then also engaging local contractors. So we're a rural community. I actually do this in Frankfurt, Indiana and Clinton County. And this is a rural community and it's a.

just an outstanding way to engage the local contractors in these small communities, both in enhancing their businesses and then engaging with homeowners by providing these special services that they can access. So that's kind of the skeleton, the big picture of how everything works and there are lots of moving parts to it.

Janet (05:46.943)
Okay, well, very interesting. Tell me a little bit more about the household income that is required for someone to qualify for this grant.

Tom Jameson (06:03.054)
So each year the Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, puts out what they call the average median income for every community across the entire nation. And it varies from community to community, as you might imagine, because of different opportunities and things like that. And so for this particular grant in this particular area, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis has determined that

the household income is 80 % of the average median income of our local area. And so that boils down to a number of about $44 ,000 per, for one individual. If there are two individuals in the home, it goes up another $9 ,000 or so and so on. Different federal home loan banks I've discovered have different thresholds.

Many of them use 115 % of the average median income. And the way that they administer the program would be a little different than the way Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis does. But it's generally based on that HUD number. And so that's a number that anyone can find by going onto the HUD website. I think it's departmentofhousingandurbandevelopment .gov.

and just finding the average median income and it takes you to a page where you can put in your zip code and it will show you that. It can also be found out by visiting any member bank that would be in your community and they'd be able to access that as well.

Janet (07:49.663)
Okay, and how do we know who is a member bank in our particular community?

Tom Jameson (07:55.796)
Yeah, so I think the easiest way to do that is to get onto the Federal Home Loan Bank of your area on their website. And how do you find that? So we're going to start with just the Federal Home Loan Banks. I think it's fhlbanks .org.

Janet (08:21.471)
And we will include, I just want to tell our listeners that we will include the links to the Federal Home Loan Bank and then also HUD to make this much easier for people to find this information.

Tom Jameson (08:35.63)
Great, yeah, yeah. So yeah, so you go to that main website for the Federal Home Loan Banks and it will show the 11 different regions and you pick your region and it will take you to their website and on their website they will have a listing of member banks, member institutions. Their banks, their credit unions can also be members as well. And then you just look and see which ones are in your community.

Now, here's the kicker. The member bank has to choose to participate in these programs and not every member bank does. And so if I will just say, if your member bank does not participate, make an appointment with the president of that bank and tell them why they should be participating because this is just a fantastic way for the bank to be serving their community and it costs the bank nothing.

It's all, yeah, they're just a conduit for funds. And so I'll give a little plug for that. So that's the easiest way to find the member banks.

Janet (09:35.551)
Mmm.

Janet (09:46.367)
So it costs the bank nothing, and it costs the homeowner nothing.

Tom Jameson (09:52.686)
Pretty much, yes. There might be some attendant costs if there's a title search that needs to be done or a very small fee that might be an administrative fee that might be charged by someone. We're trying to get rid of all those fees with our program so that it indeed costs the homeowner nothing. Yeah, this is such an incredible program.

to address such important needs in the lives of senior homeowners. And it's greatly underused. The federal home loan banks will tell you these are underused programs and they really want to get them out there for people to make use of.

Janet (10:21.823)
and

Janet (10:34.783)
Well, that's I'm just so happy to have you on the show and I'm going to tell our listeners how we met. And it's because you were you registered for the Certified Aging in Place courses through me and you took the CAP certification. And when I asked you why were you interested in earning the CAP certification, you said because it's required.

for me to do home safety evaluations. So tell me more about that specific piece of it.

Tom Jameson (11:12.992)
Yeah, and so this this comes from both the federal home loan bank side and from our local side was sharp On what we're seeking to do to best serve the senior homeowners the disabled homeowners that we're trying to reach There are certain types of projects that our federal home loan Bank of Indianapolis now requires a CAPS type Assessment to be done. So it would be for kitchen modifications and

for universal design flooring, for some bath modifications, just to make sure that the type of work that's being done falls under those standards of aging in place that the course covers. And then from our end, we really want to seek to give our homeowners the benefit of my interaction with them.

As being kind of highest value for for what we're doing. So what I was finding over the last seven years that I've been doing this Much of what I was doing when I would go into a home and sit with a homeowner and say so What are your needs and how can we meet them? I realized after taking your fantastic course by the way, I highly highly recommend it I looked and I saw other places that have offered it and I thought now they're not gonna be as good as Janet

Janet (12:31.039)
Oh, thank you.

Tom Jameson (12:39.95)
But I was already almost doing everything that a CAPS assessment would provide, but I just, I wasn't knowledgeable about that. I wasn't trained in that. And so to be able to now have that training, I was telling my wife, I think I finally learned what I've known all along, but now I've learned it.

And I can with integrity sit down with a homeowner and say, you know, this is a professional assessment that I'm going to provide you. The grant is going to pay for it, so there's no money out of your pocket. It's going to help us best determine what scope of work can be done and should be done on your home to make it the best for you. And you're gonna get a report from me that you can have after, you know,

Janet (13:05.501)
Yeah!

Tom Jameson (13:33.71)
Maybe you choose not to do anything for aging in place. Maybe your roof is your greatest need and we take care of that, but you still got this report that says, look, here's what we talked about. Here's some suggestions about getting into and out of your home and what ramping would look like or a sloped walkway. And here's what I saw about thresholds and flooring and door widths and things like that and where lighting would help you.

you know, better access your home and feel more comfortable in your home and to interact with them perhaps at a level that they haven't interacted with anyone before in regard to their aging concerns and, and, you know, what the next five or 10 years might bring to them that will help them to stay in their home safely and comfortably. So it, it just,

When we put all the pieces together, it really was a no -brainer to be able to provide a resource like this, both to access the grant and then to provide a product to the homeowner that they didn't have to pay for that will serve them for the years to come.

Janet (14:44.159)
Yeah, that's wonderful. And tell us Tom, what is your particular...

Tom Jameson (14:50.894)
So I come from more of a construction background. So I...

I've worked at construction. I've never owned a construction company. I'm not a remodeler or handyman or anything like that. I've always served on teams. I actually come from a ministry background. So that's where my love for the population that I'm serving comes from. Just having had a lot of interaction with seniors and then becoming one of them myself. So that has a lot to do with that.

Janet (15:22.591)
You're a young baby boomer.

Tom Jameson (15:27.086)
Yeah, I finally qualify for the program that I'm making available for others age -wise now. But yeah, it really does come from those two aspects, my background of having a passion for seniors to be able to stay in their homes. You know, after walking through this with my mom and dad and with my wife's folks, it's just, it's really stirred a passion in me.

Janet (15:31.903)
I'm

Tom Jameson (15:57.314)
And then also from a construction background of just that problem solving mindset. And I love working with my contractors and brainstorming, you know, hey, what's the best solution for a deck? We did a deck last year, a decking system that really turned out so well and it, you know, it used returns, but it also was aesthetically pleasing and, and just made the homeowner so happy because she had these deep set of concrete.

stairs going into her house and it turned instead into this really nice front feature for her house that was safe, landed her right where she wanted to be and being able to sit and problem solve from the construction end is really satisfying for me.

Janet (16:45.983)
Now I want to clarify so you do know a lot about construction but you are not a general con.

Tom Jameson (16:52.768)
Correct, yeah. So I work with contractors and get them matched up with the homeowner and I've got enough of relationship with the contractors that they know me and they trust me so they listen to my ideas. And I'm now with the materials from the CAPS course can be a little bit more proactive in sending design ideas and cross sections and different things like that.

Janet (16:59.359)
Okay.

Janet (17:19.839)
Well, you see, I love that because as an occupational therapist, I know that myself, I don't always feel comfortable with the construction part because of course that's not where my training comes from. And so to know that someone that like yourself that isn't a licensed contractor or handyman that you can go ahead.

and perform these home safety evaluations as long as you have the CAPS designation, right? And that's really all you need. So someone like you that you said your background is in ministry, or it could be someone like myself that is an OT or perhaps an interior designer, or even a real estate agent, if you have the CAPS designation,

Tom Jameson (18:14.062)
Yeah.

Janet (18:17.951)
then you can create a program similar to the one that you've created on Sharp in the town of, you said Frankfurt, right? Yes. Okay. And do something like this, which is fabulous because that's what we want to be able to do is do the home safety evaluation. For those of us who are not trained in construction,

Tom Jameson (18:30.84)
Yes, Frankfort and Clinton County, yeah.

Janet (18:48.105)
You know, our purpose is to go in there and do the home safety evaluation. And you know, this is the second program that I've learned about through students that I've had in the class that required a CAP certification. Another one is also accessing federal funds to build 55 plus communities or housing that is meant for disabled people.

Tom Jameson (18:53.1)
Mm -hmm.

Tom Jameson (19:13.806)
Mm -hmm.

Janet (19:17.855)
that federal program also requires the CAPS designation. And so I've had several students come through the program because in order for them to get those grants, they had to be CAPS certified. Someone on the team had to be CAPS certified. So that's great. So tell me, since you do have a construction background, you've been doing it for several years, you know, you're very knowledgeable about,

Tom Jameson (19:42.67)
Mm -hmm.

Janet (19:48.115)
construction. How did the CAP certification help you understand this type of work better?

Tom Jameson (20:03.566)
Yeah, such a great question. It really broadened my understanding. And again, as I said, it helped me learn what I think I knew, but didn't really know that I knew until I learned it, about what accessibility and safety around the home really means. And so I think it was most wonderful having you and another who were occupational therapists,

giving your perspective and just having kind of that cross conversation that we're able to have was, I mean, just highly, it wasn't even in the curriculum and I think it was the best part of the whole course for me to be able to talk that way and hear, well, I see it from this way and I see it from this way and wow, okay, if we put those together, then it does create the best solution for the homeowner. Just being able to get that breadth of,

Janet (20:38.749)
Mm -hmm.

Janet (20:55.455)
Thank you.

Tom Jameson (21:01.434)
perspective beyond just what my experience has been or what maybe I'm intuitively thinking about what it means to move safely and freely around your home. And just take into consideration things that I'm not specifically trained in, knowing that, hey, I now have two people that I can go to with occupational therapist questions.

that I don't know about, but boy, what would you think about it? And to collaborate at that level and to be able to do that, I see that as highly, highly valuable being in this CAPS community now of other professionals and being connected that way.

Janet (21:34.493)
Yeah.

Janet (21:46.623)
And that's how we feel about people like you, because we only have so many answers, right? We can only talk from our perspective, our education and experience. And then it's what I say to every student, no one profession has all the answers. We all need to collaborate in order to create the best home modification for that person.

Tom Jameson (22:08.11)
Right, right.

Janet (22:16.413)
So I think that's great. So tell me more about this program in Sharp that you specifically put together using this grant program and how much work do you have out there now that you are officially a CAPS designee?

Tom Jameson (22:26.094)
Mm -hmm.

Tom Jameson (22:43.822)
Yeah. So I love the SHARP concept, the way that it has been developed. It's a partnership and we really strive to highlight that. It's functionally a partnership between the local city and county governments because they're underwriting the costs of hiring me to direct this program. So the city of Frankfurt and Clinton County, and then also a local member bank.

the farmers bank here in Frankfurt and Clinton County is the conduit for all these funds. And then of course, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis, because that's where all the money comes from. And that's where all the guidelines come from. But there are also a number of other local agencies that are connected to this. Right now I'm sitting in our local chamber of commerce. We have what's called the Iron Hub, which is in innovation and

engagement center, kind of a micro business studio where there's cross collaboration. I'm always talking with real estate agents that come in or insurance agents who are here, just different people. I'm kind of keyed into the whole economic development just because I'm present here. So that's a big thing. We have, again, the contractors. So just lots of

lots of different connections. But this whole thing bubbled up from an ad hoc committee in our community that just wanted to address the housing issue. And from a bank president who said, I'm part of this federal home loan bank. I'm on their board. They've got all this money they want to give away. Why aren't we getting it? And so that became kind of the impetus of creating something that

would access these funds and that's when I was brought on and it's just been slowly developing to where now after this would be our eighth year this year, we are at that level where a CAP certification makes perfect sense for the way that we wanna see this program grow. It has been part time over the last seven years and part of what I'm doing,

Tom Jameson (25:10.382)
This year, 2024, is looking to make it a full -time endeavor in our community. And the CAP certification is going to go a long way, a huge way, to make me accessible all year round rather than just during a grant season. Because when the grant money comes, as soon as it goes away, we have to wait till the next year to do the program all over again. And so it just has really been...

We like to thank Win Win Win for the homeowners, for the community, for the local entities, all these partners. And for me personally, I view this as God's given me this to do and I want to do this and it really is fulfilling a passion in my heart. And to see it grow is just enlivening to me, that possibility.

Janet (25:53.823)
you know.

Tom Jameson (26:08.238)
So I do want to say that the nuts and bolts of the program change every year. And this year, the Federal Home Owned Bank of Indianapolis has released the guidelines. We're able to get up to $15 ,000 per household in grant money to attend to either deferred maintenance or aging in place accessibility modification issues.

And that's an increase from what it has been. And so we are looking to really grow from where we have been. Last year was the biggest year that we've ever had to date. We served 39 households in the grant season and we're able to get over $350 ,000 into the community to get this work done. And this year, my goal is to serve

more than 50 households and get us well above the half million dollar mark. Yeah.

Janet (27:10.527)
And so now because you have more grant money, you're able to serve more households.

Tom Jameson (27:17.102)
They have extended both the amount per household and I don't think they've made it official yet, so I'm a little shy to say the amount of money that they're going to release, but it's significantly more than they've been able to release in the past for these grants. And so this will be a very robust, vigorous season.

For us which again, I am so thankful for the CAPS certification because it's going to I know I'm doing a great commercial for you here, but it's just it's going to it's just going to streamline my work because both in my training and it has helped me to really align all of my thoughts that have just been kind of scattered out here and get them in good shape in good order and you know, I've got my textbooks that show me just how to do everything and I

Janet (27:50.013)
I'm sorry.

Tom Jameson (28:11.982)
and my assessment sheets and how to market this, how to talk with the homeowners and be able to communicate well with them in what we're doing. It's really going to serve well for where we are in this program. And as I said, we just are anticipating this will grow and grow.

Janet (28:35.551)
Yeah, well, I want to ask you some more questions about the program, but I just want to piggyback on what you said when you mentioned the assessments. I've been sending emails and also making it public on LinkedIn that the NIHB recently updated their whole CAPS curriculum. It just rolled out in February and you were one of the first people to take it. And so now,

Tom Jameson (28:38.414)
Mm -hmm.

Janet (29:05.343)
in the new CAPS curriculum, they do include two sample assessments for the home that go through the entire home. And so Tom, is that what you're referring to that you're going to be using?

Tom Jameson (29:18.826)
Yes, yeah, just incredibly helpful. Now I'll tailor it to exactly what I'm doing because my products, initially at least, until I really get full blown on this, my products are gonna be very narrowly focused on the type work that the grant allows. But yeah, the assessments will just give such a great way to walk into a home and be able to begin.

doing your work in a very organized fashion and make sure you're attending to all the different aspects that a good CAPS assessment would cover.

Janet (29:57.791)
Yeah, and then streamlining it because of course you're paid per evaluation. So can you tell us a little bit about that how how you are reimbursed for your services through the grant?

Tom Jameson (30:04.206)
Mm -hmm.

Tom Jameson (30:08.59)
Mm -hmm.

So I'm very fortunate with at least these two products, the first two products that I'm developing, I call them just a level one and level two assessments. And they will assess either for the homeowner who is not looking for any aging in place modifications at this point, but certainly could benefit from a perspective of what it would look like to make your home

more visitable, more accessible, even more adaptable. And then also for the ones that are required by the grant for kitchen modification, bath modification, things like that. That would be a more robust one with some pictures and different things like that. But the grant allows up to $250 of the grant to be used for

a safety and accessibility modification assessment to be done by a certified professional. Well, guess who I am? And yeah, now I was just talking with a colleague and talking about, okay, how am I going to market this and present it? Because I got to avoid conflict of interest because I'm coming in anyway directing this program. And I've discovered a couple of other CAPS people in the area. And it's like, well, if you'd like to

Janet (31:22.983)
I'm gonna go back to sleep now.

Tom Jameson (31:40.554)
Contact them and have them do it for you. You can I'm right here looking at your house talking with you right now You know if you'd like to hire me you can do that So it it actually is something then that the homeowner can pay for through the grant So again, it's not out of their pocket And then if they would want to do something more full -blown, you know, if you know imagining developing a product at some point that is a much more thorough going

Janet (31:59.071)
Yeah.

Tom Jameson (32:10.708)
evaluation, then you know that's something they could pay for themselves.

Janet (32:15.913)
Right, that is outside of the grant. Like you said, so in your area, the grant currently for this year is up to $15 ,000, which can help create quite a few useful modifications. But now if someone wanted to do more, and let's say they have a lot of equity in their home, which most older homeowners do, then they can...

Tom Jameson (32:18.796)
Yes.

Tom Jameson (32:29.838)
Yes.

Janet (32:44.847)
access either a home equity line of credit or a reverse mortgage or a personal loan. And then since you're already in there and you already did this work for them, they trust you. They know how valuable you are. Then you can go ahead and sell them, you know, these other services that weren't covered by the original grant. So let's, it's.

Tom Jameson (32:50.444)
Mm -hmm.

Tom Jameson (33:11.726)
Right, yeah. It really is. Yeah.

Janet (33:12.287)
That's a great marketing opportunity because that's what you learn. It's easier. It's a lot cheaper to keep your current customer than to acquire new customers. Right.

Tom Jameson (33:26.158)
Right, right, build on your bass, yes.

Janet (33:30.449)
Yeah, well, that's just so wonderful. I'm so glad you were in my class because I had no idea that this program existed. So as soon as you talked about it, I said, I want you to be on my show because I want you to tell everyone because especially for other occupational therapists, since we're not out in the community, you know, we live in this medical model.

And most of us have never been business owners. And so it, even though we have all of this valuable knowledge when it comes to the home safety assessment, when it comes to understanding how aging and disease process affects how people function, we're not very knowledgeable about business and networking. And so this is a great program for

Tom Jameson (34:23.246)
Hmm.

Janet (34:28.295)
OTs and PTs that are looking to start doing home safety assessments and just getting their name out there. And then it's such a valuable networking opportunity because just by being associated with the bank and the grants, you're here talking to contractors, you're talking to all of these people, financial people in the community, right? That will...

Tom Jameson (34:49.228)
Mm -hmm.

Tom Jameson (34:54.766)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, yeah.

Janet (34:56.831)
help your business grow.

Tom Jameson (34:59.182)
Yeah, and it also engages you with the nonprofit sector as well. That's, you know, as I look to grow this into a full -time venture, the bank grant will just become one piece instead of the piece, it will become one piece and finding other funding that can provide either, you know, certainly the support to run it for full -time.

but also to build up repositories that would allow us to draw on to do the type of work again, so that homeowners are paying little to no cost to get this kind of work done. And that's just the model we're pursuing here. Like you say, there can be so many different kinds of models, but I think really at the heart of it is this sense of collaboration.

Janet (35:47.687)
No.

Tom Jameson (35:57.774)
that you don't have to do this on your own, that you don't have to somehow come up with a business model all by yourself to make it happen out of your own work and your own effort. Some people can do that, but I think it works much better and has a much greater impact when it is collaborative, both on the, you know, just being able to talk about.

I don't know anything about the issues of degenerative diseases and what you have to anticipate and things. I need to talk to somebody like you about that. And just having that kind of cross -pollination. But then also what this says to the community when they see partnerships at work. I'll tell a little story on our community that the city and the county haven't always gotten together on things.

There's a little bit of a competition for funds and things like that, but this has been one thing that they've been lockstep together on, to say we want to make this available to the people that we serve. And so it's been really great for our communities to see the governments working together. And I don't see a whole lot of that happening right now, right? So.

just to be able to see that level of partnership. So thank you for letting me kind of rant and rave on that a little bit too. I just think there's so much that can be, so much benefit that can be derived. And I think what has me so excited about the CAPS designation right now is that it has just kind of.

Janet (37:25.469)
Yeah, yeah, you're right.

Tom Jameson (37:51.7)
unlocked and unleashed something in me that's just been, I haven't been able to push past it for a number of years. Just wondering like, oh gosh, what could we do? What could we do? And now it's like, look at what we could do. And having those kind of opportunities and services available to homeowners is fantastic.

Janet (38:16.575)
Well, that's great, you know, and that's how I think about things too. In order for me to be able to do something with information, number one, I have to understand it, right? Then I have to organize it in my head, have some time to think about it so I can organize it, make sense of it, and then all of these ideas, you know, just come. Yeah.

Tom Jameson (38:42.766)
Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Janet (38:47.529)
I just, so tell me Tom, what would you say to someone who's listening now that just became CAPS certified or is thinking about earning this certification and would love to do something like what you're doing in your county? What would you say to them?

Tom Jameson (39:11.022)
Yeah, contact me. I would really, I would love to talk with anyone who would have this kind of vision to say, wow, how could I get something like this in my community? And part of it is, you know, being able to access something as wonderful as we have with the Federal Home Loan Grant that our particular Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis offers.

Janet (39:14.815)
I'm sorry.

Tom Jameson (39:39.918)
But those things are out there, those resources are out there. And so it's, yeah, just what it would look like to put together a partnership like that. I would say too, to talk with your local governments, if there's a director of housing services or something like that, to talk with them, or if there's a senior center in your community.

to talk with the senior center and just say, hey, you know, is there anything for seniors that helps them understand how they, for me, and maybe you found this too, for me, the best way to state it is, how can I help people stay in their house? That seems to resonate a lot with senior homeowners because I've run into it time and time again when they've said,

Janet (40:33.203)
Thank you.

Tom Jameson (40:38.03)
If I don't do this, I can't stay in my house. If I don't get new windows, I can't stay in my house. If I don't get a new roof, if I can't get in and out of my house, if I can't get around my, I think I told you a story in class of one homeowner that I was working with and to get in and out of her bathtub to take a shower, she was holding on to the curtains of her window and swinging herself into the bathtub. Like.

Janet (40:41.055)
Mm -hmm.

Tom Jameson (41:06.198)
Oh my goodness, let's get you taken care of here. So you don't need to do that because I, you know, you think of the horror story that comes with that. So I digress. The, the just finding, finding those individuals. Um, we, we also in Lafayette, Indiana have a, uh, HUD has put together a, um, uh, an organization that helps, uh, homeowners, um,

understand the, you know, they do homeowner, homebuyer counseling, and then also do the grant application and helping them with that. Just finding these agencies, finding a member bank and going in and saying, so how are you leveraging your membership in the federal home loan bank system? Because you know, you can be getting money from them. Did you know that?

And some banks are going to go, well, no, we really didn't know that. But anything that would encourage the bank to be viewed as serving their community is going to be huge. And to be able to say, well, I've got a certification that can help with that. I've got a way to get us access to a demographic that desperately needs to be served by you. That's how I view kind of the caps.

Janet (42:22.663)
Thank you.

Janet (42:29.919)
Mm -hmm.

Tom Jameson (42:34.722)
opportunity that's before me.

Janet (42:37.311)
Oh, that's great. Well, I am going to include in the show notes a link to the HUD website, another link to the Federal Home Loan Bank website. And then as long as you're OK with people contacting you, I will include your email as well.

Tom Jameson (42:55.278)
Ha ha ha.

Tom Jameson (43:01.484)
Yeah, I will give you an email to include. Okay, yeah.

Janet (43:04.809)
Okay, perfect. You give me the email of your choice. And, and, and actually, you just as you were saying, these last few words, I was thinking I should write an article with the information that you've given me, so that people can reference this article and use it to us.

Tom Jameson (43:09.996)
Yeah.

Janet (43:34.547)
take advantage of this grant because I know you've created this special program that you call Sharp in your area, but this grant exists all over the country. It may look differently, right, in different regions, but this grant does exist everywhere. We just have to know how to take advantage and how to access it.

Tom Jameson (43:36.034)
Yes.

Tom Jameson (43:51.084)
Mm -hmm.

Tom Jameson (43:58.222)
It's.

Janet (44:02.815)
and talk to the right people and create the right partnerships in order to replicate what you've done, which you said you've been doing it for the last seven years. And, you know, this was before many people even started thinking about how the aging demographic is going to, you know, we're going to be a super age society and all the issues with.

Tom Jameson (44:14.35)
Mm -hmm.

Janet (44:28.747)
most homes being built before 1980 and the effect that that has on people's abilities to remain at home.

Tom Jameson (44:39.47)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That sounds great. I think that'd be a wonderful resource. I'll let you write it.

Janet (44:43.359)
that. Yes. All right. I'm like you're free to. Well, thank you, Tom, so much. I really appreciate your time and your knowledge and your expertise and the fact that you're willing to talk to other people because it's just so.

Tom Jameson (44:53.654)
Uhhh...

Janet (45:09.321)
It's so important and I think the more of us out there that are doing these home safety evaluations, you know, regardless of what our background is, our professional background, then the more people we will be able to help. And there's enough opportunity for all of us because there's so many people that are aging that we need to look at it as, you know, the...

Tom Jameson (45:25.55)
Yes.

Janet (45:36.447)
the glass is half full and there is abundance instead of scarcity and help all of us grow.

Tom Jameson (45:41.038)
Yes.

Tom Jameson (45:47.382)
Yes, I agree. And thank you so much for having me on and thank you for the class and I hope I plugged it enough. I feel like I could really plug it more and more. But no. It was unsolicited, yes.

Janet (45:56.319)
Well, you do. I appreciate that. Perfect. Perfect. Personally, I think the CAP certification is so valuable. And I think people once people go through it, you know, they they realize what a great resource it is, because it really is hands on knowledge on

Tom Jameson (46:24.558)
Yes. Yep.

Janet (46:26.175)
How do you do this? So, but thank you for the plug. Okay, well, we will talk soon and I will include all of these links in the show notes, including Tom's email of choice. And I will start working on that article. All right, thank you, Tom.

Tom Jameson (46:28.398)
Mm -hmm.

You're welcome. Thanks for having me on.

Tom Jameson (46:50.254)
Great, great. You're welcome.