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Pa.'s new Whole Home Repair program moving forward, but homeowners can’t apply for funds yet

Katie Blackley
/
90.5 WESA
A new program to help Pennsylvania homeowners make needed repairs is moving forward.

Pennsylvania counties and other groups can begin to apply Monday to administer millions of dollars in funds for home repairs.

The state's most recent budget allocated $125 million to the Whole Home Repairs program.

The new program aims to help low- and moderate-income homeowners and small landlords with needed repairs up to $50,000, fight blight, improve energy efficiency in homes, and provide construction-related workforce development.

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Applications open Monday for either counties or authorized nonprofits to apply to the state to administer the funds. In Allegheny County, nonprofit Action Housing has been designated by the county executive to apply to run the program. (The program’s state-issued guidelines say in Allegheny County, the county executive determines the applicant.)

Action Housing already administers a weatherization program that is similar to Whole Home Repair in some respects. It also administered a major COVID-related rental assistance program last year and this year that has distributed more than $128 million in aid.

Homeowners likely won’t be able to apply for funds for a few months.

Kate Giammarise focuses her reporting on poverty, social services and affordable housing. Before joining WESA, she covered those topics for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for nearly five years; prior to that, she spent several years in the paper’s Harrisburg bureau covering the legislature, governor and state government. She can be reached at kgiammarise@wesa.fm or 412-697-2953.