The Department of Energy announced automatic eligibility for its Weatherization Assistance Program of HUD means-tested programs with income qualifications at or below 80% of area median income, including project-based rental assistance, PRAC, and public housing. The DOE’s Weatherization Program Notice 22-5 replaces an earlier, long-expired agreement the DOE had with HUD and allows for the automatic qualification of residents and buildings of certain HUD programs for the Weatherization Assistance Program. The December 8 notices expands WAP categorical eligibility to privately owned multifamily buildings receiving HUD assistance that meet certain income eligibility requirements, housing owned and operated by public housing agencies, and privately owned multifamily buildings that house residents with housing choice vouchers. The Notice will make it possible, for example, for a LeadingAge affordable senior housing provider member to work with their state’s Weatherization Assistance Program to bring that program’s benefits of energy efficiency updates to the entire housing community. In the Notice, the DOE concludes that the income eligibility to participate in the WAP (households with incomes up to 200% of Federal Poverty Guidelines) sufficiently overlaps with income qualification levels of HUD’s means-tested programs. The recently enacted bipartisan infrastructure framework includes $3.5 billion for the WAP; typically, this program receives about $315 million in annually appropriated funding. The new Notice will help WAP offices expedite the distribution of these funds. Read the Weatherization Program Notice 22-5

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Alyssa Odegaard – Vice President, Public Policy 
c: 206-948-2279