October 22, 2012 -- The National Association for State Community Services Programs (NASCSP) and the Community Action Partnership have announced that as of September 27 one million homes were weatherized under the Department of Energy's (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) since April 2009.
That result is due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, which allocated $5 billion for the WAP with the goal of weatherizing 600,000 homes by the end of the three-year Recovery Act period (March 2012). The $5 billion represented a five-fold increase compared to WAP's fiscal year 2008 funding levels.
ARRA supporters said that scaling up the weatherization program would be a key part of a strategy to jumpstart the economy through creating American jobs, supporting small businesses, saving everyday people money on their energy bills, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
After a slow start, the Weatherization Assistance Program gained momentum and weatherized the its one-millionth home just nine months after passing the 600,000 mark. The DOE provided the funding to states, territories, and tribal governments who could manage the day-to-day details of the program. State governments funded a network of local community agencies, nonprofit organizations or local governments to provide the weatherization services. The map below shows how low-income residents throughout the country have benefited from weatherization investments.
Source: newspapers, Center for American Progress
