Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 A Pennsylvania program<\/a> that assists homeowners and small landlords by financing repairs is set to expand nationwide, after Congress this week passed a bill that both Republicans<\/a> and Democrats<\/a> are celebrating as the first major federal housing law in decades.<\/p>\n Tucked into the 374-page omnibus legislation is a pilot version of a federally backed Whole-Home Repairs program<\/a> \u2014 an idea that was originally sponsored by State Sen. Nikil Saval (D., Phila.) and passed in Pennsylvania in 2022.<\/p>\n The program offers grants or loans to address safety, habitability and efficiency concerns. Households that earn less than 80% of the area median income are eligible for grants, while small landlords with affordable units can access loans, including forgivable loans.<\/p>\n Funded with more than $120 million in COVID-era federal stimulus money<\/a>, the program has been limited amid high demand<\/a>, with as many as 18,000 homes on the waiting list.<\/p>\n Saval said he expects the national version to also reflect that level of \u201cimmense demand\u201d \u2014 particularly as the program starts small and as homeowners across the country face higher costs to maintain their residences.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a huge issue. There are some 200,000 homes in Pennsylvania alone that have moderate to severe deficiencies,\u201d Saval said. \u201cEveryone is dealing with rising energy costs. Everyone\u2019s dealing with the cost of materials and labor and the inability to pay for all that.\u201d<\/p>\n Introduced at the federal level by U.S. Sen. John Fetterman<\/a> (D., Pa.) for the last two sessions of Congress, a standalone Whole-Home Repairs Act was merged last year into the bill<\/a> that would become the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. <\/p>\n That legislation received final votes with broad bipartisan support earlier this week. President Donald Trump<\/a> was scheduled to sign it quickly on Wednesday before canceling the bill-signing in an attempt to force Congress to first pass more restrictive voter-ID laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n Democrats on Capitol Hill rebuked the president\u2019s move while continuing to advocate for the bill, which aims to incentivize housing construction, restrict large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, improve financial literacy and more. <\/p>\n Such massive, bipartisan policy proposals rarely emerge from the U.S. Capitol. Philadelphia-area lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had spent months advocating for the bill. <\/p>\n U.S. Sens. Dave McCormick<\/a> (R., Pa.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D., Dela.) \u2014 members of the Senate committee that advanced the legislation \u2014 both celebrated the final passage by talking about its impacts on affordability and \u201ccutting red tape.\u201d U.S. Sen. Andy Kim<\/a> (D., N.J.) called it a \u201chistoric\u201d move to bring costs down.<\/p>\n \u201cThis package comes at a critical moment,\u201d Blunt Rochester said in a statement, noting a nationwide housing shortage of as many as 7 million units<\/a>. Five bills<\/a> she separately sponsored \u2014 to accelerate building, increase investment in community development projects, develop zoning and land use policies, and more \u2014 were featured in the final law.<\/p>\n The Whole-Home Repairs provision of the legislation wasn\u2019t a guarantee as negotiations developed over the last year. House Republicans were generally skeptical of creating a new government program, and specifically critical of the policy\u2019s tenant protections, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. But their counterparts in the Senate, and Democrats in both chambers, helped keep it in the larger bill.<\/p>\n Fetterman said in a statement that Whole-Home Repairs \u201censures families can stay in their homes\u201d and that passing it was a priority since he entered the Senate in 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve consistently maintained that our housing crisis needs real solutions that help address the problems at the center,\u201d Fetterman said.<\/p>\n