Cities across the United States are changing quickly. Revitalization can bring investment and rising property values. It can also bring pressure on the people who were there first. Longtime senior and veteran homeowners often hold their largest source of wealth in their homes, and that wealth can be affected by repair costs, tax increases, insurance challenges, and outside buyers. The central question is not whether neighborhoods should grow, but whether the people who built them can afford to stay.
Lisa Flowers Jones, Executive Director of House Proud Atlanta, has spent her career working on that question. “We are about community,” she says. “Everything we do is about community.” House Proud repairs homes for senior and veteran homeowners in Atlanta and Birmingham. For Jones, the issue is personal. A home is often the largest asset a family owns.
Home preservation has become an economic issue, not just a housing issue. Home repair costs rose 22% nationally between 2020 and 2025, with Atlanta seeing a 26% increase, according to a report. Roof repair costs alone rose 85%. Those increases fall hardest on fixed incomes, where one major repair can consume savings meant to last for years. FOX reported that Atlanta homeowners with a homestead exemption have seen an average property tax increase of 31% over the past five years.
When a legacy homeowner loses that home, the loss extends beyond the individual. For many seniors, home equity represents most of their accumulated wealth. If the home is sold below its value, that equity may not be transferred to the next generation. Keeping homes in good repair allows seniors to stay if they choose, or to sell at full value if they downsize. Either path keeps the wealth in the family.
Strong communities depend on diversity across generations. Seniors know the history of a street. They watch the block during the day. They provide informal support to neighbors. “They deserve to live in communities that are changing in a positive way, just like the new people moving in,” Jones says. Development should include existing residents, not replace them.
House Proud’s model rests on four pillars. The first is critical repairs: roofing, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, flooring stabilization, and smart home technology for senior safety. The second is homeowner education. The third is community engagement, delivered through Be Neighborly. The fourth is connection between longtime residents and new neighbors.
House Proud Atlanta
Be Neighborly is what distinguishes House Proud from a traditional repair program. According to House Proud Atlanta, volunteers repair several homes on one street at once, often with over 100 people, each team led by a licensed contractor. The work is paired with a street event like food, music, and chances for neighbors to meet. Yard signs encourage connection, with messages like “Ask your senior neighbor about the history of your neighborhood.” The idea came from the pandemic, when House Proud learned that seniors’ main concern was isolation from new neighbors. “The Be Neighborly program is a movement. We have plans to expand nationally, our seniors shouldn’t feel so isolated,” Jones says.
The model has attracted corporate partners with large organizations. Strong communities support stronger local economies. Businesses depend on stable neighborhoods. Jones points to sponsorship of Be Neighborly street events as one route. A company can fund a block event and become the visible partner behind a day of repair and connection.
House Proud operates in Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, with plans to expand into Savannah. The organization is approaching its 15th anniversary. For decades, the measure of a thriving neighborhood has been new construction and rising values. Those things matter. But a neighborhood is not only its buildings. It is the people who stayed and the wealth they preserved. The model is not limited to the Southeast, and the same combination of repairs, education, and connection could apply to other cities.
Lisa Flowers Jones makes the point directly. House Proud’s mission is not only about repairing homes. “We are about protecting legacy homeowners and their place in the communities they helped build,” she says. Community growth, she suggests, should not be measured only by what is new. It should also be measured by whether the people who built those communities can remain part of their future.
