A host of elected officials from Pittsburgh and around Pennsylvania gathered Friday morning on a Mt. Oliver front porch to tout the success of Pennsylvania’s Whole-Home Repairs program — and to make the case for ongoing state funding for the program.
“Today we are calling on the governor and the General Assembly to put new funding into this very successful and wildly popular program,” said Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, who championed the program as a state legislator.
Whole-Home Repairs funds up to $50,000 in major home repairs for households earning less than 80% of the area’s median income.
Homeowner Kelly Scatena said the program has been life-changing for her family. Their home had both a leaky roof and a crumbling foundation until it was repaired through the program.
“I felt like my house was dying from cancer,” Scatena told reporters. “I was afraid I was going to crumble up from underneath me.”
She and her husband were unable to afford the major repairs and couldn’t get a loan or sell the house.
“And the stress of that was terrible. I felt like the wolf was always at the door. Then, I saw something about the Whole-Home Repair program on TV.”
She was able to apply with the help of her state Representative, Jessica Benham, she said.
Demand for the program has far exceeded the available supply of funds, however, officials emphasized Friday.
“There's hundreds and hundreds of people across this Commonwealth that have similar stories to tell [as Scatena’s],” said State Senator Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills.
There are more than 4,000 eligible applications in Allegheny County for the program that have been deferred due to lack of funding, said Dan Sullivan of Action Housing, the agency that administers the program locally.
Multiple speakers noted this means roughly 96% of eligible applicants have been deferred.
The program was first funded in the 2022-2023 state budget with $125 million of federal pandemic relief funds. There is no money for the program in the current 2023-2024 budget.
On Tuesday, Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, will put forth his budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1, kicking off what will be months of hearings and negotiations over the state budget between Shapiro and a divided legislature.
“We need to make this a priority for Pennsylvania,” Costa said.
