Supporters want to continue funding to weatherize low-income and rental homes

Minnesota received millions of federal stimulus dollars over the last several years to dramatically expand a program that renovates low-income homes and rental properties to make them more energy efficient.

But with the deadline in March for using the $132 million in federal funds, proponents of weatherization are hoping the state will find a way to keep its momentum going.

The Weatherization Assistance Program pays for simple improvements that can make a big difference over time, such as sealing up drafty leaks, installing insulation and high efficiency furnaces, appliances and windows. Stimulus money from the federal government was given to states, which contracted the work. In Minnesota, Community Action and other non-profits compiled waiting lists, screened applicants and trained and hired contractors to do the work.

Those kinds of changes can greatly cut utility bills. Shauna Chambers, 30, who rents a townhouse in Cannon Falls, said she noticed the difference immediately in her new home, which was weatherized with, among other changes, a high efficiency boiler and furnace, new windows, energy saving appliances and insulation, before she moved in.

Despite running her air conditioning all summer, her gas and electric bills are half of what they were in her last residence, a mobile home outside of town. The mobile home was renovated but the windows were old and drafty.

Chambers said this more energy efficient townhome already has improved her family's quality of life.

"I have a one-year old and he doesn't sleep well and all I have to do is lock the window and we can't hear anything so it's really soundproof, which obviously means it's very insulated. The windows are huge," she said. "There are no drafts, nothing."

Chambers says she's looking forward to seeing how much she'll save on heat over the winter.

Contractor Bob Alf's company specializes in sustainable construction and has done a lot of weatherization renovation work through the stimulus program. Alf, of St. Paul, says once his customers begin making small energy improvements they tend to want to do even more because their homes feel so much better.

"It is about saving energy and therefore the operating costs of the house go down year by year but, wow," he says, "it's just more comfortable in that bedroom where you literally used to feel air."

The Weatherization Assistance Program existed before the economic crisis and stimulus package that followed. To qualify for weatherization assistance, renters and homeowners need to fall below an income threshold and twice greater than the Federal Poverty line, or $44,700 for a family of four.

Many of the participants are disabled, elderly or living on a fixed income.

According to 2010 Census data, nearly 20 percent of all Minnesotans earn less than $33,525 a year, or 150 percent of poverty guidelines.

Some advocates in the weatherization field complain that in its rush to spend stimulus money by the federal deadline the state focused too much on single-family homes and not enough on rentals.

Of the 17,344 low-income housing units the state has weatherized since 2009, only about 1,400 have been multifamily apartment buildings.

Jo Mahn Siemers, who directs Three Rivers Community Action in Southern Minnesota, doesn't see that as a failure.

"There are lot of people living in substandard single family houses and mobile homes that are leaking energy all over the place so I think it's a real typical place to go," she said.

Since everyone in the program also qualifies for energy assistance the program also saves the taxpayers money.

State Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman said Minnesota did ramp up quickly to take advantage of stimulus funding and he concedes the state needs to do a better job weatherizing more low-income rental buildings.

"The weatherization programs, currently they have the technology to go into homes to determine whether homes are losing air or there are inefficiencies or for example the furnaces are bad," Rothman said. "Going into multifamily homes is hopefully the next step where we might be able to focus our resources."

But working on rental properties is more complicated because of all of the state and federal regulations and agencies involved so it has been more efficient to focus on single family homes.

Weatherizing apartment buildings also requires different construction skills. The state provided special training for contractors but that took time to ramp up.

Of the 17,344 low-income housing units the state has weatherized since 2009, only about 1,400 have been multifamily apartment buildings.

Rebecca Olson, the weatherization director at the Sustainable Resources Center of suburban Hennepin County, said no renters were intentionally turned away from assistance. That rentals make up almost 10 percent of the weatherized properties is notable, Olson said.

"I think that all of the service providers have made a commitment to start working on them, but it takes a lot of time and we are starting to get there now," she said. "But a lot of the funding has been cut."

Meanwhile, the state is working to complete work on more than 2,000 properties that await weatherization.

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