Joseph Davis had five children. He and his wife purchased a two-story row house in North Philadelphia in the mid-1960s. It was located near the auto parts factory.
Davis is now struggling to maintain the house on a fixed income. Plaster is ripping away from the walls of the second floor. Investors offer to purchase it but Davis, now widowed plans to stay as long and as possible.
He says, “They want to me move out, but I feel good at my home.” He chuckles and adds, “I’m now 89 years old.” I’ll probably die here.”
His daughter, Veronica Stovall filled out the application when he got a letter last year in the mail promoting a federally-funded energy-efficiency program.
Weatherization assistance is a program that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower energy costs for 700,000. Low-income households in the United States over the next five year. It was given a $3.5B boost by last year’s infrastructure law. This is in addition to the $334million Congress allocated for the Department of Energy’s weatherization program in 2022. However, it is not clear if that federal assistance will reach Davis because of federal regulations.
The Biden administration’s climate strategy includes weatherization, which aims for net zero emissions by 2050. Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Secretary for Energy, stated that “we will be able help households in disadvantaged areas, reduce carbon emissions and generate good-paying jobs in every corner America.”
Weatherization assistance covers everything from new windows and energy-efficient lights to better insulation. A household must live below 200% of poverty to be eligible. This is $27,180 for an individual and $55,500 for four people. Seniors, disabled people, and families with children are given preference in the program. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, retrofitting homes reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 2.65 million tonnes per year.
Federal regulations allow homes to be delayed if inspectors determine that the work is inefficient due to significant repairs, safety or health concerns or excessive repair costs. The theory is that residents will be able to reapply after they address the underlying issues. Many people can’t afford it.
The weatherization assessment of Davis’ home revealed that there were significant repair needs, including a leaky roofing. His application was one of those that were deferred. The final estimate was $30,000 with the roofing bill at $13,000. Stovall hired a local contractor for some repairs. However, the total cost is much more than Stovall and his family can afford.
According to the Energy Coordinating Agency in Philadelphia, around half of all weatherization assistance requests result in a deferral.
Executive director of ECA Steve Luxton says that it’s almost seen as a weakness or a void within the program. Luxton states that Philadelphia is known for its high poverty rate. This means that repair costs tend to mount up. Luxton says that his organization refers deferred homeowners to a subsidized program for repair, but this program is often overloaded. ECA does not track how many people are able to resolve their problems and return.
He says that by not doing more at the local levels, he is saying, “We’re turning their back on them really, the way I see it.”
This isn’t a Philadelphia problem. The U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services do not track how many homes are delayed nationally. Federal surveys of states and local agencies who carry out this work reveal that they report a wide range in deferral rates, ranging from less than 5% to more like 20%. According to a Pennsylvania survey, 36% of Pennsylvania’s homes are being rejected. A western Wisconsin agency found that it was deferring almost 60% of homes at one time. In each case, this number was so high that it prompted efforts at the state or local level to fix it.
David Bradley, CEO, National Community Action Foundation, said that weatherization is not just a problem in rural areas.
According to the National Association for State Community Services Programs’ survey of community organizations, the most common reasons for deferrals were structural issues, water or moisture, and mold.
The deferral rate can rise if there is a large increase in funding. The federal government commissioned a review of weatherization results. It found that many agencies reported more deferrals when they received large amounts of cash during the Great Recession. There were stricter safety and health regulations and pressure to quickly weatherize more houses, which may have reduced time spent trying to combine resources to address housing rehabilitation needs.
The same survey revealed that the program prioritized groups that included elderly people, children, or persons with disabilities. These households were also deferred at higher rates than single-parent households during the evaluation period.
Legislators and agencies are paying more attention to deferrals. Starting in spring 2023, the Department of Energy will start tracking these deferrals and their causes. A spokesperson for DOE said that the agency is still working on rule changes to allow more flexibility in how this program is implemented.
The Biden Administration also took steps to reduce deferrals. In the President’s 2022 budget, $15 million was set aside by Congress for pre-weatherization repairs. However, this money can not be used to weatherize homes with funds from infrastructure law.
A bipartisan group made up of senators introduced the “Weatherization Assistance Program Improvements Act” this year. This bill would create a repair fund for these homes and be funded at $65million for five years. The bill would also increase the federal limit on the average cost of weatherization per home.
These changes are crucial, according to Meg Power, Senior Policy Advisor at the National Community Action Foundation. The current system encourages the first house to be fixed up.
“Millions upon millions of homes were weatherized…” She said that houses in serious structural and physical trouble are now the only ones left. “The worst houses are gone.”
Bradley says that if the bill to repair funds passes, it will be a game changer.
He says that without such a holistic solution, you “are not really addressing environmental injustice or the disparity among the lowest-income.” Bradley believes that the real repair needs in the country are likely to be several times greater than the bill’s amount. The legislation is still in committee and GovTrack, an independent legislative tracker, gives it a very slim chance of passing. Bradley also says that the Biden Administration could have difficulty hiring enough workers in the current labor market to meet its weatherization goals.
Some states and local agencies have attempted to tackle the deferral problem on their own. Bundling different funding sources such as U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development repair funds or U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can help them keep more homes in their program and take on larger projects. Power says this approach is fragmented and requires that siloed nonprofits and government agencies, with sometimes slightly different goals, work together. These local efforts provide a glimpse of how a holistic home-repair program might work.
Rezephyr Young (also known as Cookie) is a retired hotel housekeeper aged 76. Built to Last, a Philadelphia-based initiative, helped her get new windows. The project combines the expertise and funding of more than a dozen organizations, including utilities companies and government agencies, and aims to repair 80-100 homes in high-need areas.
Young needed a new roof before she was eligible for weatherization assistance. She also had to fix structural problems in her kitchen.
She said that she was not going to think about the repair cost and instead, she just thanked God for getting the job done.
NPR asked about Davis’ housing needs. Coordinators responded that they would consider including him in the Built to Last pilot. However, this is not an option for thousands of homes across the country in similar situations.