And although not every county participated in the program, state statistics show it helped more than 4,000 Pennsylvania homeowners make major improvements to their residences.<\/p>\n
In Allegheny County, more than 250 low-income homeowners fixed up their properties. (That number will grow slightly even without new funding, since a small number of projects are still in progress.) Thomas said the program addressed the needs not just of homeowners but of the surrounding community as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a housing shortage in this county, in this country,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have some of the oldest housing stock in Allegheny County and in Pittsburgh. And it’s far cheaper to repair a home than to build new. It’s far more reliable to fix what we have as opposed to trying to recreate it from scratch.\u201d<\/p>\n
One Mt. Oliver homeowner, who used the program for foundation repairs, told reporters<\/a> that before the program, \u201cI felt like my house was dying from cancer,\u201d and she feared it would crumble underneath her.<\/p>\n Kate Giammarise<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n 90.5 WESA <\/p>\n At an event in 2024, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato and other officials touted a success story from the Whole-Home Repairs program in front of a home in Mt. Oliver that benefited from the program.<\/p>\n Due to high demand, only a fraction of those who applied were able to get assistance through the program: ACTION-Housing was able to assist only about 1 in every 20 of the applications for help it received.<\/p>\n But the low-income homeowners who used the program to pay for repairs \u201creported reductions in stress, an increased sense of their home as a financial asset, and a greater ability to use their homes fully,\u201d according to a study of the program<\/a> in Allegheny County by The Housing Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n What happened in Harrisburg?<\/p>\n Democrats, and some Republicans, have continued to champion Whole Home Repairs and advocate for its funding to be restored in the state\u2019s budget. But the spending hasn\u2019t been reauthorized since the initial 2022-23 allocation.<\/p>\n The federal COVID aid that funded the whole-home repair initiative has long since run out. And with the state facing a $5 billion deficit, support for the program seems to have dried up too, at least among Republicans who run the state Senate.<\/p>\n When asked about the program recently, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman showed little enthusiasm.<\/p>\n “I think the better approach is allowing the market to efficiently, effectively, and cheaply build homes,\u201d he said last month. He said the solution was to streamline the construction permitting process, adding that he feared Whole Home would \u201cjust turn into another bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n Philadelphia Democratic state Sen. Nikil Saval believes most lawmakers agree the program would be heavily used. Wait lists were quickly filled up in the program\u2019s first and only year of operation.<\/p>\n \u201cIn particular, the Senate Republicans just have been opposed to spending money, and they made clear that they don’t want to have an outlay of money, not necessarily just to this program, but to a number of different initiatives,\u201d said Saval, one of the bill\u2019s original sponsors.<\/p>\n But he said the repairs would help people regardless of their district or party affiliation.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone benefits from this,\u201d Saval said. \u201cNo one is checking [when] your house is in disrepair, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat. We want to keep Pennsylvanians housed.\u201d<\/p>\n Republican state Sen. David Argall, another major backer of the program, has joined Saval to cosponsor a measure that would bring back the program.<\/p>\n Argall said older homes in disrepair are a huge problem in parts of his northeastern Pennsylvania district, which includes many former coal-mining communities.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a lot of older homes in some of my communities that are in desperate need of repair,\u201d he told WESA.<\/p>\n Argall said the program was incredibly successful. But not all lawmakers think it\u2019s a priority, he said, because not all parts of the state need repairs so badly.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh-area members are also pushing for the legislation in the state House. Democrats Lindsay Powell, who represents parts of Pittsburgh, and Monroeville Rep. Brandon Markosek have a companion funding bill<\/a> similar to the Senate measure. It passed the Democrat-controlled House by a solidly bipartisan 122-80 vote this past June, but has idled in a Senate committee ever since.<\/p>\n \u2018The housing crisis hardly anybody is talking about\u2019<\/p>\n Nationally, urban planner and advocate Alan Mallach has argued that the country\u2019s growing number of older homes in need of repair represent a national crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMillions of people are living in unsafe, unhealthy houses,\u201d he told a conference in Pittsburgh last month.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the housing crisis that hardly anybody is talking about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"Sara](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792404488_749_.jpeg\"\/)
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