Whole-Home Repairs Wins With $125 Million in Pennsylvania Budget

Last week, State Senator Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia) announced a $125-million appropriation in Pennsylvania’s 2022–2023 budget to establish his groundbreaking Whole-Home Repairs Program. He issued the following statement:

“Every person has a right to a home that is safe—a home that is healthy. But right now, across our Commonwealth, hundreds of thousands of households are denied this right simply because they don’t have access to the resources they need to repair their homes.

For decades, urban, suburban, and rural communities alike have suffered from disinvestment from their government at all levels. The creation of the Whole-Home Repairs Program in this year’s budget changes that.

This is a hard-fought victory for every Pennsylvanian who is struggling to stay in their home. This program is a direct investment in our people and our communities, whose needs have been ignored, and whose voices have gone unheard. At this time of protracted hardship across the Commonwealth, we have seized a historic opportunity to move the needle on our housing crisis—permanently.

What we have done sets a new standard. Today we have a program to preserve housing across the Commonwealth, to stabilize our communities, to prevent blight and abandonment and displacement, to build a skilled workforce to keep our state at the forefront of the industries of the future, and to protect the place that is most dear to all of us: home. I’m committed to fighting for every household to have what they need to make their home whole.

The United States needs a model for how to preserve its aging housing stock and create new jobs, and with the Whole-Home Repairs Program, Pennsylvania has positioned itself as a leader.”

About The Whole-Home Repairs Program

The Whole-Home Repairs Program is the first of its kind in the nation, creating a one-stop shop for Pennsylvanians to repair and weatherize their homes by providing up to $50,000 for habitability repairs and energy efficiency upgrades, allocating support staff to ensure applicants receive the help they need in the order they need it, and funding pre-apprenticeship and training programs to build a skilled local workforce capable of meeting the growing demand.

Pennsylvania has some of the oldest housing stock in the country, and the data show the human impact: one out of every four Pennsylvania voters lives in a home that needs a critical repair, while one out of every three describes their utility bills as “unaffordable.” And if confronted with the need to make a critical repair to their home, nearly half of Pennsylvanians say they would struggle to afford it.

The Whole-Home Repairs program was championed by a bipartisan, bicameral group of Pennsylvania legislators committed to taking action to combat Pennsylvania’s ongoing housing crisis. Senator Saval, who serves as Democratic Chair of the Senate’s Urban Affairs and Housing Committee, introduced the legislation in the Senate with the entire Democratic Caucus and five Republican Senators as co-sponsors. State Representatives Sara Innamorato (D–Allegheny), Rick Krajewski (D–Philadelphia), and Jordan Harris (D–Philadelphia), who serves as the House Democratic Whip, introduced and advanced companion legislation in the House.

The creation of the Whole-Home Repairs Program is the direct result of tireless organizing by a powerful coalition of housing and energy advocates, community organizers, and Pennsylvania residents. This $125-million appropriation marks an unprecedented investment in housing by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

The campaign for the Whole-Home Repairs Program was a collective effort of the following organizations:

• 5th Square
• ACTION-Housing
• Berks Stands Up
• Carbon County Action Committee for Human Services
• Clean Air Council
• Commission on Economic Opportunity
• Community Action Agency of Delaware County, Inc.
• Community Justice Project
• Community Legal Services of Philadelphia
• Ebony Suns Enterprises LLC
• Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA)
• Franklin Energy
• Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, Inc
• Green Building United
• Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County
• Habitat for Humanity of the Lehigh Valley
• Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery and Delaware Counties
• Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia
• HELP: MLP
• Hill District Consensus Group
• Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania
• Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Philadelphia
• Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance
• Lancaster Lebanon Habitat for Humanity
• Lancaster Stands Up
• Lehigh Valley Stands Up
• MaGrann Associates
• Make the Road PA
• National Energy Improvement Fund
• National Nurse-Led Care Consortium
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Neighbors Against the Gas Plants
• Northern Tier Community Action Corporation
• Northumberland County Weatherization
• Omicelo Cares
• One Pennsylvania
• PennFuture
• Pennsylvania Stands Up
• Pennsylvania Utility Law Project
• Performance Systems Development
• Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC)
• Philadelphia Energy Authority
• Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition
• Philly DSA
• Philly Thrive
• Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania
• Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group
• POWER Interfaith
• Preservation Alliance
• Rebuilding Together Philadelphia
• Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh
• Reclaim Philadelphia
• Regional Housing Legal Services
• Self-Determination Housing of Pennsylvania
• Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter
• Sunrise Movement Pennsylvania
• Sunrise Movement Philly
• The Public Interest Law Center
• Third Act
• Trehab
• Women for a Healthy Environment