Thread by @SenatorSaval

WE JUST WON $125 MILLION FOR WHOLE-HOME REPAIRS! This is a direct investment in our people, our homes, and our communities, and an unprecedented victory for the coalition of housing and energy advocates, community organizers, PA residents, and legislators who backed it. 1/

The Whole-Home Repairs Program establishes a one-stop shop for home repairs and weatherization while building out our local workforce and adding new family-sustaining jobs in a growing field. This program is the first of its kind in the nation. 2/

When my office opened in December 2020, we already knew some of our first work needed to be moving the needle on our state’s decades-long housing crisis. Since then, we’ve built a campaign that took us to communities across the Commonwealth. 3/

My office has hosted three separate #SenDemPolicy hearings on our housing affordability crisis, and in each, we heard testimony from residents and housing advocates about how hard it is for people throughout our Commonwealth to stay safe and healthy in their homes. 4/

We know that the housing crisis is decades in the making, and that hundreds of thousands of people across the Commonwealth are currently living in homes that are unsafe because they can’t afford to make the needed upgrades and repairs. 5/

https://twitter.com/PaSenateDems/status/1377251838655881217?s=20&t=zhbsesbZTk4oAXuEksFkrw

PA has some of the oldest housing stock in the nation. The materials our homes are made of wear out. This problem permeates our cities, our counties, our Commonwealth, and our country(!). 6/

https://twitter.com/SenatorMuth/status/1468611257309749251?s=20&t=AbwxgxGxfiUCNZWQBeTdPA

And as of today, here in PA we have seized a historic opportunity to move the needle on our housing crisis—permanently. 7/

https://twitter.com/JayCostaPA/status/1545173793777262592?s=20&t=nEaKx214avyxei1txwuJxw

Every step of the way, we’ve collaborated with housing and energy advocates, with community organizations, and with PA residents. Time after time we heard how key to solving the affordability crisis is making it possible for people to repair and maintain their homes. 8/

Addressing housing scarcity means preserving our homes so that people can live in them! 9/

https://twitter.com/SenatorMuth/status/1468617273623597061?s=20&t=FAj3-FPxGL9xIeN-bDZePg

In March, we launched the campaign to pass #WholeHomeRepairs! We traveled to different counties and in each, residents shared with us their love for their communities, their difficulties with their homes, and their struggles to stay. 10/

When I introduced #WholeHomeRepairs in March, it was already a bipartisan initiative, with all members of the @PASenateDems signed on as co-sponsors, along with my colleague and friend, the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, @SenatorBrowne. 11/

Since then, I’ve been honored for the opportunity to work with additional colleagues across the aisle, including @SenatorLaughlin, @SenElderVogelJr, @SenatorScavello, and long-time housing and community advocate, @SenatorArgall. 12/

https://twitter.com/SenatorArgall/status/1531624419025723393?s=20&t=DqZ0Hf3nKY4GJ_5q3KCtow

My colleagues in the House, @RepInnamorato, @RepKrajewski, and @RepHarris, have been absolutely crucial in making this a bipartisan, bicameral success! 13/

https://twitter.com/RepKrajewski/status/1530212544463380481?s=20&t=ZL2Yu4wRt7HfkEVT_PXgzw

The #WholeHomeRepairs Program does three things:

1.Provides grants of up to $50,000 to repair homes across PA
2.Allocates support staff to ensure people receive the help they need in the order they need it.
3. Funds training and workforce programs

14/

The #WholeHomeRepairs Program has received local and statewide news coverage. 15/

inquirer.com/opinion/editor…

The #WholeHomeRepairs Program has received national attention for being the first of its kind! States across the country are struggling with a lack of affordable housing and livable homes, and Pennsylvania has positioned itself as a leader. 16/

vox.com/23025378/energ…

#WholeHomeRepairs is a housing security initiative, a utility assistance initiative, an anti-blight initiative, a community stabilization initiative, a neighborhood safety initiative, and a jobs creation initiative—all by helping Pennsylvanians stay safe in their homes. 17/

We knew the need was huge. But in May, findings from a study by @DataProgress and @PplsActionInst revealed that the need was even greater than we’d known. 18/

https://twitter.com/PplsActionInst/status/1529112093164707840?s=20&t=mfjLZ3pwmjIjBJd4y4-bgQ

We also found that more than three-quarters of voters supported #WholeHomeRepairs! 19/

And today, we have a program to preserve housing across PA, to stabilize our communities, to prevent blight and abandonment and displacement, to build a skilled workforce to keep our state at the forefront of the industries of the future. 20/

https://twitter.com/pdubb96/status/1530276970390556674?s=20&t=sp_eloA3pFC68ZO3FIodYA

What we have done sets a new standard. The #WholeHomeRepairs Program means that we can protect the place that is most dear to all of us: HOME.