Harrisburg, PA – Just three days after his first budget address, Governor Josh Shapiro announced Lackawanna and Wayne counties received over $2 million through the Whole-Home Repairs Program, the first counties to receive funding through the program.
During his budget address, in which he stressed the importance of making sure people living paycheck to paycheck can afford to maintain their homes, the Governor announced that he had instructed the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to get the money out to counties as quickly as possible. Governor Shapiro knows many of our neighbors are being crushed under a mountain of rising prices, most of which are out of their control. That is why his budget focuses on commonsense solutions the Commonwealth can implement to take some of that burden off their shoulders. The payments from the Whole-Home Repairs Program will provide much needed assistance to property owners in Lackawanna and Wayne counties.
“So many Pennsylvanians are struggling to keep up with rising prices – we need to make sure people living paycheck to paycheck can afford to maintain their homes so that they’re safe and healthy for themselves and their families,” said Governor Shapiro. “Under my leadership, the Department of Community and Economic Development is moving swiftly to disburse the Whole Home Repairs funds, and it’s now up to the counties to get this money into the hands of those who need it as quickly as possible.”
Today, DCED transferred $330,819 to Wayne County and $2,128,437 to Lackawanna County. These payments are a crucial first step in making the Whole-Home Repairs Program funds available to Pennsylvania residents to address critical home repair needs and improve Pennsylvania’s housing stock. The Commonwealth has implemented processes to expedite future funding for all other county participants to ensure that the Whole-Home Repairs funding is available to local agencies as quickly as possible.
“These are just the first of many distributions from this program that will provide critical home repairs for our neighbors across the Commonwealth,” said DCED Acting Secretary Rick Siger. “Governor Shapiro noted during his budget address that getting the first Whole-Home Repairs payments out the door was a top priority – and I’m proud to say we made that happen today.”
The $120 million Whole-Home Repairs Program, which is administered by the DCED, provides funding for county-wide agencies to address habitability and safety concerns, fund measures to improve energy or water efficiency, and make units accessible for individuals with disabilities. The program also provides funding to counties for construction-related workforce development.
A nonprofit or governmental entity awarded funds under the program must use the money for the following purposes:
- Make funding available through grants to homeowners and loans to landlords (up to $50,000) where the household’s income does not exceed 80 percent of the area median income to be eligible for a homeowner grant or where a small landlord provides an affordable unit to its tenants.
- Make an investment in workforce development programs that will connect trainees to jobs through committed employed partnerships related to improving the habitability and performance of home.
Allocations for counties that applied for this funding can be found on the DCED Whole-Home Repairs Program site located here. The calculations and metrics that were used to determine the allocations are outlined in the program’s guidelines.
Governor Shapiro was elected to bring people together and get things done for all Pennsylvanians – and this commonsense budget filled with solutions to the problems we face demonstrates his commitment to delivering real results for our Commonwealth.
Visit Governor Shapiro’s budget website to learn more about the proposed budget.
Contact: ra-gvgovpress@pa.gov