NC program to weatherize low-income homes has stalled. Whose fault is it?

A program to help some of North Carolina’s poorest residents cool their homes in the summer and heat their homes in the winter has seen a slow start, frustrating nonprofit agencies across the state that are in charge of weatherization.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Weatherization Assistance Program is funded by the federal government. Once the state receives that money, it reimburses local partners who work throughout North Carolina. Those partners, often community action agencies, identify people with low incomes who could benefit from services like having insulation installed or upgrading their HVAC systems.

The Weatherization Assistance Program is available to people whose household incomes are less than 200% of the federal poverty level. That’s $39,440 for a two-person household or $60,000 for a family of four. DEQ says the program typically helps about 1,600 households annually.

North Carolina nonprofits received updated contracts from DEQ Thursday, nearly eight weeks after the weatherization program’s fiscal year started. Without those contracts finalized, nonprofit leaders say, they cannot push forward with work to protect their clients’ homes — and finances.

The delay was due to “programmatic changes” at the federal level that required DEQ to overhaul the contracts, Sascha Medina, a DEQ spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

Those changes are coming even as the weatherization program saw a reduction in federal funding, a result of pandemic-era safety net spending not being renewed. DEQ expected to receive about $24 million to support weatherization this year from the federal government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Heating and Air Repair or Replacement Program.

Instead, Medina wrote, it received $15.8 million.

But community action agency leaders across North Carolina say communication has been lacking, leaving the weatherization program in limbo throughout a stifling summer and with western North Carolina’s first frost rapidly approaching.

“They’re on us about making sure we meet our quota each month or quarterly or they’re threatening to take the funds away from us. How can we start to work if we don’t have a contract?” asked Stephanie Ashley, the executive director of Blue Ridge Community Action.

DEQ officials insist they’ve kept their partner agencies updated about where the contract stands, holding several conference calls and offering to follow up with answers to individual questions.

Upon learning about the funding reduction, Medina wrote, DEQ told partners they could continue paying weatherization employees on staff but would need to wait until the contracts were signed to receive reimbursement for any weatherization projects.

Landon Mason, the executive director of the Economic Improvement Council, is among those who are frustrated with DEQ. Mason’s agency serves a 10-county northeastern North Carolina region from Dare County west to Washington County and north to Gates County.

Mason and several other community action agency executive directors The News & Observer interviewed called for a change in leadership at the Weatherization Assistance Program.

Communication was a consistent theme, with Mason saying it sometimes take DEQ staff weeks to respond to emails with questions and that Zoom calls with agency partners are set up so only department staff can speak.

Notification that this year’s contracts wouldn’t be ready in time for July 1 came on Friday, June 28, causing several community action agencies to scramble to cancel jobs that were already scheduled. And agencies are bristling about monthly reports that can run into the hundreds of pages, something Ashley and other directors takes up too much time when the weatherization programs must already audited.

“It’s almost like there is no partnership here, there is no collaboration,” Mason said.

DEQ Secretary Elizabeth Biser maintains confidence in Weatherization Assistance Program staff, Sharon Martin, a DEQ spokeswoman, said in an email Friday.

“They are dedicated public servants, working to ensure that the resources provided through this program are benefiting low-income residents and that those funds are being spent appropriately and efficiently. We all share a goal of helping as many North Carolinians in need as possible, while serving as responsible stewards of taxpayer funds and making sure those funds are going to their intended use,” Martin wrote.

Ashley’s Morganton-based organization conducts weatherization work in an eight-county region, including Gaston, Mecklenburg and Union counties. Blue Ridge typically weatherizes about 150 home a year with about 100 additional homes receiving HVAC repairs or replacements, Ashley said in an interview.

This year’s work has started slowly, Ashley said.

Some of Blue Ridge’s staff are conducting energy audits of homes on its weatherization prioritization list, checking to see where air is leaking out. But they aren’t able to schedule the actual repairs, much less begin them.

Blue Ridge and some other community action agencies subcontract with general contractors, electricians, plumbers and HVAC repair people.

“They can’t wait on us,” Ashley said.

‘Burning up’ without repairs

Once DEQ signs off on contracts with the community action agencies, it also has to approve the contracts with subcontractors, another potential delay.

Without repairs happening, Blue Ridge’s wait list for weatherization has started to lengthen, reaching more than 600 people, Ashley said. Statewide, more than 2,700 people are waiting for weatherization assistance.

Lillie Hill, a Charlotte resident, is one of those people waiting for assistance.

Hill has been on a waiting list for weatherization since 2021, she told The News & Observer. That’s around when her air conditioner stopped working permanently.

Ever since then, she’s used a fan and window units to cool the roughly 1,000 square feet of her single-level home near West Charlotte High School.

In the winter, Hill’s heating unit limps along, although she’s started to bolster it with space heaters as she awaits a more permanent fix.

This hot summer has been particularly difficult for Hill. It’s exacerbated health conditions like emphysema and asthma. When the constantly running window units and fans can’t cut the heat, Hill sits outside.

“I’ve been burning up this year. It’s frustrating,” Hill said.

This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. If you would like to help support local journalism, please consider signing up for a digital subscription, which you can do here .