Just a few inches stood between one Gainesville man and the outside world.
But from a wheelchair, those inches made it difficult to leave his home.
Armando had not been out in two years. When a community paramedicine program connected him with Rebuilding Together North Central Florida, an organization that helps repair homes, revitalize communities and rebuild lives, everything began to change.
The program had sent a medical transport to pick him up, but Armando, whose last name is being withheld for confidentiality reasons, couldn’t even get to it. His home, built on a slab-on-grade foundation, sits just a few inches off the ground. But in a wheelchair, even that small drop is a barrier. Beyond that, there were 30 feet of loose Florida sand between his front door and the street, making it hard to maneuver his wheelchair through it.
Within two weeks, work was already underway.
From permitting at the city to receiving a donated concrete truck and mobilizing a team of hard-working volunteers, Rebuilding Together witnessed how Armando’s quality of life increased exponentially and quickly.
“You know, we're all like, ‘oh, what's he gonna be the most excited about?’ Uh, he wanted to fill his bird bath in the front of his yard, so that he could watch the birds from the porch,” said RD Bonnaghan, the executive director at Rebuilding Together North Central Florida. “A person who lives here, who's lived here for 30 years and wants to live here another 30 years, how do we make that possible for you?”
Rebuilding Together North Central Florida is a nonprofit that approaches health and safety through housing. The organization works as a housing preservation agency, helping people stay in the homes they already live in by fixing a health or safety hazard that has made daily life difficult.
The organization was founded in Gainesville more than two decades ago, by a local woman who had participated in service trips building wheelchair ramps and repairing homes in places like Appalachia and Mexico. She began to question why she was traveling so far to address needs that also existed in her own community.
Today, the organization primarily serves residents across Alachua County, with additional work expanding into Levy County and surrounding rural areas. Many of the people they assist are older adults, individuals on fixed incomes or residents facing financial barriers that make essential home repairs unaffordable.
According to the United States Census, Gainesville has a persons-in-poverty rate of 30.8%, while Florida’s is 12%.
The process starts when someone reaches out for help.
From there, the team gathers background information, including income, homeownership and specific needs within the confines of the home to determine what programs or funding sources they may qualify for. If eligible, someone is sent out to inspect the home using a 25-point checklist developed alongside the National Center for Healthy Housing.
The inspection starts with basics, such as looking for any leaks or sanitation health concerns, or whether wastewater drains properly. The approach looks not just at the structure of the home, like leaking pipes or whether toilets flush, but how people live in it.
“So we inspect those homes, help folks figure out exactly what might increase the health or safety, livability or affordability of the space,” Bonnaghan said. “It looks at the house really comprehensively; how people interact with their house and what the effects of long-term health and safety are.”
This includes older homes that were built decades ago under very different building codes. It also takes into account residents whose needs have changed with advancing age or physical limitations.
After the inspection, the team identifies problem areas and brings together community partners, local businesses and contractors. The organization has had over 300 individuals volunteer in any given year to help with projects.
Funding for these projects come from a variety of sources, including federal, state and local housing programs. Rebuilding Together applies competitively for federal grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that help pay for the repair and rehab of homes. It also competes for grants at the state and county level.
“Our city and county commission have said, ‘hey, this is a priority of ours and we want to put some money behind it,’” said Bonnaghan. Yet, the organization emphasizes transparency, often encouraging other local groups to apply if they can achieve more with the same funding.
Partnerships are likewise, essential to the success of the projects. These partnerships provide not only manpower but also a chance for employees to connect with the community. Faith-based groups, service organizations and clubs from the University of Florida contribute to the mission.
And homeowners are part of the process every step of the way. It’s all built on a “neighbors helping neighbors” philosophy, where the repairs matter, but the connections built along the way matter just as much.
“A lot of times people build real connections, and they interact with folks that they wouldn't otherwise meet,” said Bonnaghan.
For Doris Tellado, who is married and has two children, that connection transformed her family’s life.
Her family bought their three-bedroom, one-bath home because renting wasn’t an option. Her son, Gabriel, who had complex medical needs, once relied on a ventilator. However, the older home was not built for his care.
As Gabriel grew, those challenges did too.
“Because of his condition, his bones are more fragile, and there was a fracture risk every time I was bathing him in a tub that wasn’t good for him,” said Tellado.
Renovations were needed, but at the same time rising electricity costs, driven by the need for constant air conditioning to keep Gabriel safe at home, and the financial crisis of 2008 made renovations unfeasible.
After being contacted by the Community Weatherization Coalition, a partner of Rebuilding Together, whose mission is to reduce the utility bills of Alachua County residents, they were referred to Rebuilding Together.
“It was a big project; they built a bathroom and extended the bedroom,” said Tellado. “He’s now 22 and every time I shower Gabby I think about it and thank Rebuilding Together for helping us do that because it was something we didn't have the possibility to do at the moment.”
The project, which took three years, not only improved the family’s quality of life but Gabriel’s as well since that will be his forever home.
Now serving as a board member on the organization’s board, Tellado said the way her family was treated stood out the most.
“They are family,” Tellado said. “They never treated us like a charity case, but treated us like neighbors of neighbors. They take it seriously.”
While stories like Tellado’s show the impact of the work, the need continues to grow. Bonnaghan said one of the organization’s biggest gaps for years was reaching renters, who make up a large portion of the low-income population.
“For my first 13 years at Rebuilding Together, we didn’t serve renters,” he said.
The challenge, he explained, was ensuring improvements wouldn’t unintentionally displace tenants.
“You don’t want to improve a landlord’s property and then have that landlord raise the rent and kick out their tenant,” Bonnaghan said.
Now, a new partnership with the county is working to resolve that. Through an incentive-based program, landlords who already house low-income tenants can receive funding for energy efficiency upgrades, if they agree to keep rent affordable for a set number of years.
“It’s a win-win for everyone,” Bonnaghan said.
The upgrades help landlords maintain their properties, while lowering utility costs and stabilizing housing for tenants.
Rebuilding Together continues its core work providing critical home repairs year-round and is expanding into new efforts, including building homes from the ground up for families affected by storm damage in Levy County.
But even as the organization grows, challenges remain.
Rising material and labor costs have made repairs significantly more expensive. Projects that once cost a few thousand dollars can now cost three times as much, putting more pressure on limited resources.
“I would love a world where anyone working a full-time job didn’t need Rebuilding Together services,” Bonnaghan said. “That’s my dream.”
For now, though, the demand continues making programs like this essential for families trying to stay safe in their homes.
“We want our neighbors to live happy, healthy, successful lives. We want ourselves to live happy, healthy, successful lives,” said Bonnaghan. “And the best way to do that is together.”