A Bath Housing program focused on keeping seniors in their homes is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Christopher St. John, 80, has lived with his wife, Eunice, 88, in Brunswick for the past 13 years, Comfortably Home allowed Christopher to help take care of Eunice by connecting the couple with maintenance staff to improve their home to make staying there possible.

Seniors in Sagadahoc County and Brunswick with a gross annual income below the area median income — $74,480–$110,800 depending on household size and location — can qualify for Bath Housing’s one-time service Comfortably Home program. The aging-in-place program provides adults 55 and above with minor repairs and upgrades to keep them in their homes.

The average income for the Comfortably Home program’s participants is $25,000, said Jessica Irish, Bath Housing’s deputy director. A single-person household in Sagadahoc County with an annual income under $74,480 qualifies for the program.

Bath Housing started the Comfortably Home program in October 2015 and has served 428 homeowners in the Midcoast, but the costs for the materials and labor of the modifications have gone up.

“We emphasize that this is a low-barrier program and very simple to access,” said Debora Keller, executive director of Bath Housing.

Some improvements Comfortably Home has made to the St. Johns house include the installation of carbon monoxide smoke detectors, updating the doorway thresholds to reduce their chances of tripping, putting in stairway railings and adding fixtures to the shower to allow them to sit down.

MaineHealth Community Health and Nursing Services in Brunswick referred the St. Johns to Comfortably Home after Eunice went to the hospital in February 2025. Eunice had tripped on the threshold three times after getting home from the hospital, risking another trip back, before Comfortably Home repaired the St. John’s threshold in their home.

After getting verified, Bath Housing’s maintenance team visits the applicant’s home to assess what needs will best help the homeowner, spending up to $3,500 on average per home. It covers the cost of materials needed for home modifications, repairs and staff time at no cost to the homeowner.

“We created this program based on clear indicators in our conversations in the community that people wanted to stay in their own homes as they got older,” Keller said.

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