April 21, 2022

Nearly 6 million US homes need repairs and could disappear from the market if ignored. Many of their residents, mostly those with low incomes, live in unsafe housing and are excluded from energy efficiency programs that help reduce energy use and utility bills. Unable to pay for repairs, about 10 to 30 percent of eligible homeowners are deferred from weatherization upgrades each year for health and safety problems. Energy efficiency upgrades can alleviate cost burdens for families and help reduce future emissions. 

The Pew Charitable Trusts found 36 million Americans—about 20 percent of all borrowers—have used alternative ways to finance a home at some point. These borrowers were more likely to have low incomes, live in rural areas, and were disproportionately Latinx and Black. Alternative financing can put households at risk of higher costs and provide fewer protections.

Washington announced historic investments in initiatives to reduce homelessness and increase access to behavioral health care across the state: $300 million will go toward housing and shelters, $45 million to clearing encampments, and much will go toward rental assistance and increasing wages for homeless service providers. “The unprecedented focus on this intersection is really exciting,” said Casey Trupin, director of youth homelessness at the Raikes Foundation. “I can confidently say there’s nothing this targeted happening anywhere else in the country.”

Colorado lawmakers proposed House Bill 1282, known as the Innovative Housing Incentive Program, which would give grants or loans to new or existing businesses to develop innovative housing solutions. The $40 million program would fund modular housing initiatives, helping businesses cover operating costs while creating jobs. “By manufacturing houses and doing it in a repetitive fashion, we can keep costs down and we can get the number of houses out quicker,” said Eric Schaefer, a vice president at Fading West Development.