Federal Funds Will Help Weatherize Home, Create Jobs (complete article from source)
Source: Channel 3000 wisctv.com
May 14, 2009
MADISON, Wis. -- Federal money to weatherize homes in Wisconsin is good news for some low-income families by helping them reduce energy costs, but it might also be positive for companies that do the work.
Wisconsin has been awarded $141 million in federal stimulus money for the state's weatherization program. Gov. Jim Doyle and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu toured a Milwaukee home on Friday that was being upgraded. The program will give certain families up to $6,500 per home for weatherization. To qualify, a family of four must make less than $44,000 a year, WISC-TV reported.The money will be funneling through local programs that do low-income weatherization, but local contractors who do the work will also likely see some benefits.
With this in mind, the local agency that does weatherization is ramping up for an influx of work, which means more people to help and more staff to do the helping.Gary Miller's crew was putting a new furnace in on Friday afternoon that will help a low-income Stoughton man heat his mobile home. Miller owns Heating and Cooling in Madison, and is a contractor for Project Home, a non-profit that does weatherization. Miller said that he's expecting business to start booming with an influx of stimulus money."As the economy gets worse, their clientele base should probably grow a bit and that's really going to help them, help more families and customers down the road," said Miller.Project Home officials said that these funds will help those surviving paycheck to paycheck."With the economy in shambles the way it is right now, a lot of people are hurting, and for us to be able to weatherize more homes is going to mean that these low-income people have lower utility bills," said Jan Reek, director of programs with Project Home.Project Home officials estimate that they'll be able to help 600 more families this year -- on top of the 800 they typically get funding for. Because of this, they're already planning to double their staff of 35."We're going to be hiring people and training them in doing these green jobs, so that has a couple benefits," said Reek. "First, it puts people to work and it puts them to work in an industry that's going to continue to grow in the future."Miller said expects he'll need to expand, too."We'll probably have to hire more people to take on more of a load. Just depending on if they have 50 percent more or double their business," said Miller.Miller said he knows the work his crews and Project Home crews do is also warming people's hearts."They do good work. They do really quality work for the people," said Miller. "It's a good product when they're done with the house."Those who need help making their homes more energy efficient must first qualify for Energy Assistance. To do this in Dane County, residents must call 608-267-8601.Project Home plans to start hiring for their 35 positions soon. Officials said that those interested can get more information at their Web site.
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