Schuylkill wants to help needy with home repairs

Schuylkill Community Action is among four agencies statewide to be chosen to apply for a pilot program that would make crucial repairs to the homes of people who are struggling financially.

The repairs are required before the homes can be weatherized through government-funded programs.

County commissioners on Wednesday approved SCA’s application for the $471,622 grant, through the state Department of Community And Economic Development.

“Over last couple of years, when we go out to audit a home, we’ve been finding health and safety issues that weatherization guidelines do not allow us to repair,” said SCA Executive Director Ted R. Dreisbach.

The problems have included mold, leaky roofs, and old knob and tube wiring.

“Because of the liability issue, the state has told us to not go through with weatherization until the problems are fixed.

The trouble is we are dealing with low incomes clients who lack the resources to do the repairs,” he said.

“Right now, if a home has a code violation, it is not eligible for weatherization funds for projects like insulation or furnace-wrapping until the code violation is fixed, and (the federal Housing and Urban Development’s) HOME funds are often used to fix these violations.

This pilot will allow DCED to combine weatherization and HOME funds simultaneously to address code deficiencies and weatherization efforts at the same time,” said DCED press secretary Michael Gerber.

“It’s a great example of breaking down silos, increasing efficiency, and maximizing resources for families in need so they can improve their homes in a timely manner,” he said.

In addition to Schuylkill, three other weatherization agencies have been targeted and identified for the pilot. They are Lawrence County Community Action Program; SEDA-COG, a public development organization serving 11 Central Pennsylvania counties; and Central Pennsylvania Community Action Program.

Dreisbach said the agency has at least 50 homes that could be weatherized due to problems.

“The majority were mold issues,” he said. “The pilot program will require the agency bringing the whole home up to code, not just fixing the primary issue.”

The elderly poor are hit doubly hard. Not only are the homes, many of which were built back in the peak coal mining era, are unsafe, but without the repairs, they also cannot be weatherized, Dreisbach said.

SCA’s budget varies from year to year. It received $191,959 from the U.S. Department of Energy and another $474,814 from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP.

LIHEAP requires them to spend up to 70 percent of its funding for crisis work (for example, if someone’s furnace stops working in winter), Dreisbach said.