Whole-Home Repairs for the whole country
Pennsylvania’s Whole-Home Repairs program, a shrewd piece of bipartisan legislation, has met a serious unmet need: support for homeowners who can’t afford essential renovations to keep their homes livable. But infighting in Harrisburg last year cost the program $50 million in supplemental funding, leaving many applicants waiting indefinitely. The state must fund and expand this innovative program — especially as Congress considers taking the commonwealth’s plan nationwide.
In a city like Pittsburgh, faced with both a housing crunch and a glut of neglected properties, the WholeHome Repairs program’s popularity was guaranteed. The initiative’s means-tested grants of up to $50,000 are used for major fixes like shoring up foundations, replacing leaky roofs, overall weatherization or adding accommodations for people with disabilities. But a staggering 96% of applicants in Allegheny County, some 4,000 people, can’t get their repairs because funding ran out.
The program, originally launched in 2022, quickly exhausted the $125 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated for it and is now awaiting more state support. While Harrisburg Republicans and Gov. Josh Shapiro duked it out over school vouchers in last year’s messy budget battle, the $50 million slated for Whole-Home Repairs was quietly scrapped. The loss of the program was hardly mentioned as lawmakers struggled to come to workable solutions on other issues.
Mr. Shapiro has already advocated for another $50 million cash infusion for the 2024-25 budget. That’s good, but if the speed with which the first tranche of funds was gobbled up is any indication, it won’t go very far. The House Democrats and Senate Republicans should consider expanding the outlay for this popular program even more.
Meanwhile, just this week, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman introduced a nationwide
bill to expand the program. The five-year national pilot would work in tandem with existing programs, adding more distribution and funding resources. But it’s in early stages: The bill’s text isn’t yet available, and neither are concrete numbers about scope or timelines.
The program isn’t a magic bullet. Rising construction costs have already made the $50,000 cap on grants and loans more restrictive than they once were, and finding contractors and construction workers to complete these repairs has become more difficult due to declines in tradesmen. However, the program serves as a concrete solution aimed at homeowners to help them live decently, and to avoid more properties falling into blight
There’s also plenty of avenues for expansion. A portion of the initiative aimed at helping small landlords revitalize properties has been largely ignored because of the strings attached. The legislation includes 15 years of mandated rental price oversight — a daunting stretch of time for landlords to give up price flexibility. Reducing the oversight period for small landlords — that is, individuals and families who make modest rental income, not corporations or speculators — would help them and, especially, their tenants.
Whole-Home Repairs is a Pennsylvania original primed to go nationwide. This year, Harrisburg must give it the funding it deserves.