Challenge

The U.S. housing stock has a median age of 44 years, higher than at any other time in U.S. history.¹ Over half of homes pre-date 1980², when residential energy efficiency standards were less prevalent.³ Not only is older housing stock typically less energy efficient, but it can also be expected to have a greater degree of repair needs. According to 2017 American Housing Survey data, 33.6% of owner-occupied and 39.5% of renter-occupied homes had at least one repair need. Of these homes, 85.5% were built before 1970. The estimated repair needs averaged nearly $3,000. The most common repair needs were structural (e.g., roof) or involving leaks and mold.⁴ Such repair needs not only decrease energy efficiency but also pose considerable health and safety risks. While wealthier households are more likely to have the financial resources to invest in needed repairs and weatherization to improve energy efficiency and address structural deficiencies posing health and safety risks, these costs can pose significant barriers to low- and middle-income households. Meanwhile, assistance offered through the federal Weatherization Assistance Program falls far short of the need.⁵

Policy Solution

Weatherization programs can reduce energy cost burdens by about 25%⁶ through increased home energy efficiency, facilitate the transition to clean energy, reduce peak demand on the electric grid, and improve the health and safety of residents. Weatherization improvements can include insulation installation, air sealing, window replacement, mold and moisture remediation, and the installation of energy-efficient appliances.⁷

Model Policy Features

Key policy components that make weatherization programs effective include:

• Grants (including health-related funding, such as asthma remediation grants for improved indoor air quality and mold treatment) and/or forgivable loans to low- and moderate-income households (e.g., with incomes at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level) and landlords serving low-income tenants for weatherization measures to improve energy efficiency.
• Maximum assistance eligibility amounts sufficient to cover the local costs of weatherizing homes with multiple weatherization needs. 
• Incentives for multifamily affordable homes designed to provide benefits to both landlords and tenants.
• No-cost home energy assessments to estimate potential savings—or costs—of weatherization and qualification for additional bill assistance or low-income rates
• Open to manufactured home owners.
• Combined with pre-weatherization funding—or includes carve-outs for pre-weatherization funding—to address major structural deficiencies impeding full weatherization benefits. 
• Stacking capability (i.e. assistance can be used with other funding mechanisms), paired with system navigation assistance for applicants, to take advantage of other federal, state, or local incentive programs.
• Reduces participation barriers, such as language access, consolidation of existing programs and/or no-wrong-door approaches, categorical eligibility (whereby participation in other government assistance programs qualifies a household for eligibility in offered programs), plain language contracts, simplified applications, robust outreach, and bans on application/exit fees and credit score review.
• Includes tenant protections, such as prohibitions on landlord cost recovery through rent increases, eviction protections, displacement protections and/or assistance during renovations (e.g., alternative living spaces, assistance with moving or storage expenses), right to return without rescreening, grievance procedures, and anti-harassment provisions.
• Includes high road job and training or apprenticeship opportunities, including strategies to reach underemployed communities.
• Provisions to allow for deed restrictions that strike a balance between the needs and interests of low- and moderate-income households and the protection of public investments (i.e. preventing property flipping), such as agency discretion in application of deed restrictions, deed restriction duration, and other measures to maintain low-income housing stock. 
• Includes provisions for regular data reporting including but not limited to identified home repair needs, cost of repairs, and age of home and public transparency (e.g., public-facing data dashboards, program evaluation, audits to ensure meaningful benefits reach intended populations).

Potential Policy Drawbacks and Pitfalls

• May be inaccessible to households that need significant upgrades first, which can be difficult to fund.
• Possible increase in identification of homes that neither meet housing quality standards for health and safety nor are salvageable through retrofit efforts.
• Large funding requirements may require new funding sources and models or layering with other home-repair funds (e.g. mold remediation to address asthma triggers). 
• Possible temporary displacement of residents in homes requiring significant retrofits. 

Complementary Policies

CComplementary policies that can enhance the effectiveness and functionality of weatherization include:

• Electrification readiness and pre-weatherization programs to maximize the feasibility of implementing energy efficiency upgrades within the home.
• Electrification to facilitate the shift to clean energy sources.
• Comprehensive DER valuation to enable electrification to be paid for, in part, through compensation of any broader benefits provided to the grid, such as deferral of distribution upgrades or peak demand reduction. 

Additional supporting policies include contractor education and public housing energy efficiency improvements.