By DALIA ISKANDER, Solutions News Bureau
With a poverty rate of 24.3% as of 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Philadelphia was already one of the U.S.’s poorest big cities, and the pandemic has made things worse. With more than 60,000 homeowners living in poverty, the housing crisis in Philly is only growing.
Philadelphia has an old housing stock, which means a multitude of people are living in deteriorating homes that need upkeep they can’t afford. COVID-19 has only magnified the challenges of unhealthy housing, with families spending more time at home than ever.
Deteriorating homes can lead to injuries and present risks for lead exposure. It’s estimated that these conditions lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in avoidable healthcare costs each year. While unhealthy housing contributes to a variety of chronic diseases and can increase vulnerability to other diseases, such as COVID-19.
The Philadelphia Energy Authority is working to make a change. The Energy Authority’s new Built to Last program creates a network of organizations that have the capacity to help low-income, single-family homeowners with their individual needs. It will connect homeowners with comprehensive support from existing organizations in areas like repair, house counseling, utility, legal services, and health counseling.
The Built to Last Universal Intake and Wrap Around Service Coordination Programs include the Weatherization Assistance Program, the Lead, and Healthy Homes Program, Basic Systems Repair, and over 10 more programs.
The Weatherization Assistance Program already provides weatherization services to approximately 35,000 homes every year. As awareness about the urgency and importance of energy efficiency grows, more research and local initiatives (like Built to Last) offer funding and other resources to reduce energy consumption and lower the costs of living.
“We will complete a 50-home pilot this year and plan to kick off our second 50-home pilot later this year,” says Alon Abramson, the Authority’s Director of Residential Programs.
When the program is fully established, low-income homeowners who apply for any housing program involved in this new Philadelphia network will be connected with Built to Last. The Energy Authority will then determine which other programs homeowners are eligible for, help them apply, and manage project timelines.
The first pilot kicked off in October of 2021 and is ongoing. “We have not kicked off the second pilot yet. This has been the biggest effect of COVID, delaying our program design which was ongoing in March 2020 when we established the timeline of launching our first pilot in early 2021. Instead, we pushed back about nine months,” says Abramson.
Although COVID has hindered progress, the program’s pilot is seeing success, as nearly 50 homes have been helped.
“Most operations have stayed the same and any changes in terms of service delivery happened at the level of individual organizations. Mostly, these changes are about contractors wearing masks while in homes, as well as the requirement for program participants to fill out a COVID waiver for access to program services,” says Abramson.
The larger-scale deployment is scheduled for later in 2023 now. What this looks like is finding additional efficiencies in the coordinated service delivery model so that more homes can be served. Though the program isn’t without limitations, it will also require additional funding to pay for work that falls outside of their partner programs’ scope of work or exceeds their program budgets.
“The biggest challenges we’ve encountered are in keeping track of the work that needs to be done in homes, which organization is completing which elements, and when that work is scheduled to take place,” says Abramson.
COVID has also led to increased costs for contractor labor and materials, along with supply chain problems causing delays in getting certain materials, so rising costs are an issue.
But Abramson says Built to Last is ready for the challenges.
“We have a good plan for improving communication among program partners and increasing our efficiency through data management systems.”