This past summer was hot! So much so that June was recorded as the region’s hottest on record. High fuel prices and rapidly rising energy costs have meant that staying cool amidst record-breaking heat is a lot more expensive. Though we’ve all been feeling the pinch of high energy bills, it is a much greater hardship for residents living on low or fixed incomes. Many families and individuals with limited resources are also living in older homes that are not optimized for energy efficiency, driving utility costs even higher for those who can least afford it. Moreover, things like inadequate air conditioning, poorly sealed doors and windows, and insufficient insulation also affect our health – negatively impacting air and sleep quality and overall well-being.
The correlation between housing quality, economic stability, and health has long been recognized, and since 1976, the federal government has made weatherization services available at no cost to income-qualified households through its Weatherization Assistance Program. With more extreme weather creating higher temperatures in the summer and colder temperatures in the winter, this program, which makes homes more energy efficient and improves the quality of our overall housing stock, is needed now more than ever.
Home weatherization is the process of improving heating and cooling efficiency of one’s home which reduces energy costs and improves the comfort level, air quality, health, and safety of household members. This can be done through several measures, including but not limited to installing insulation in walls and attics, updating heating and cooling systems, upgrading electrical appliances, sealing windows, and installing AC window units to make homes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer with less energy usage.
The Weatherization Assistance Program is spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Energy. In Louisiana, the DoE allocates funding to the Louisiana Housing Corporation, which contracts weatherization service providers to retrofit income-qualified homes to increase energy efficiency at no cost to the homeowner. Home weatherization is especially beneficial to low-income households, which carry a larger burden for energy costs, typically spending 14% of total annual income on energy costs, versus 3% for other households. Often, they must cut back or forgo equally critical healthcare, medicine, groceries, and childcare to pay energy bills.(1) Home weatherization can save households up to $500 per year.
Through our work with communities throughout the state, Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) has learned that even when needed resources are available, vulnerable populations are often unable to take advantage of these resources due to barriers to accessing information, transportation, and technical expertise that is required.
With resources from the Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation, CPEX was able to help bridge this gap and connect Scotlandville residents in North Baton Rouge to Weatherization Assistance Program resources that will help them save money and live healthier lives. In partnership with Metro District 2 Councilwoman Chauna Banks, CPEX developed a targeted, high-touch outreach and engagement strategy designed to meet community residents where they are to provide awareness of available resources, encourage participation, and assist with the home weatherization application process.
The weatherization assistance effort is a continuation of CPEX’s commitment to working with the Scotlandville community to advance its long-term goals for vitality and sustainability, as outlined in the Scotlandville Community Strategic Plan. To assist residents, CPEX took a two-pronged approach: we conducted a robust outreach campaign to raise awareness about the weatherization program, its benefits, and eligibility requirements and hosted three application assistance events, which worked to eliminate many of the barriers to submitting applications.
The application assistance events were held at the Jewel J. Newman Community Center, a known community resource in Scotlandville. These events also included representatives from Posigen, a Solar Energy, and Energy Efficiency company, to share information about solar panel installation, to further increase residents’ awareness of home energy efficiency options.
In just three months, we were able to help nearly 200 residents submit applications for weatherization assistance, and the process of having their homes evaluated and upgraded is now well underway. These households will see reduced energy costs and increases in comfort levels and well-being, especially for young children and older residents. For some, the transformation has been life-changing – as expressed by Scotlandville resident, Gloria Hawkins. Many more households will benefit, as word has spread and residents have continued to reach out to CPEX for assistance.
It is exciting to see these homes receive upgrades needed to be healthier and more efficient, but the success of these events also demonstrate the dire need for broader assistance throughout East Baton Rouge Parish and the region. In March 2022, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $3.1billion to the U.S. DoE Weatherization Assistance program, with Louisiana receiving an allocation of nearly $31M – ten times the current funding level. In order to take advantage of this potentially transformative investment in underserved communities, we must make sure that there are effective people and processes in place to connect residents to the resources and the assistance they need.
In Scotlandville, we are honored to have the opportunity to continue to work with this community to make progress toward their goal of improving the area housing stock, and we look forward to implementation of other exciting and transformative priorities from their community plan.
(1) U.S. Department of Energy, Weatherization Assistance Program https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-06/wap-fact-sheet_0622.pdf