County-led EPA grant will fund energy upgrades for Kalamazoo owner-occupied homes, officials say

County and city staff told the Kalamazoo City Committee of the Whole that a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant is obligated to the county and will fund energy-efficiency upgrades and related services for owner-occupied homes in Kalamazoo.

The presenters said the county has a signed contract obligating the funds but the grant is a reimbursement program, which makes the schedule sensitive to temporary funding freezes. Enrollment is slated to begin in the second quarter, with upgrades and workforce training to follow.

County staff described why the program matters and how it will work. The funds are intended to reduce energy use in homes, upgrade community facilities and support pre-apprenticeship workforce training. Staff said the program will coordinate with the City of Kalamazoo’s existing lead-abatement work and neighborhood organizations to avoid duplicative spending.

Taylor, a county presenter, told commissioners, "So the funds have to be spent and then they're reimbursed by the EPA, which means they're being directly impacted by funding freezes right now." He added county staff have already submitted invoices that have been reimbursed and that the county expects access to funding "at the end of the day," though the reimbursement process has at times been like "a tap on and off and on and off." The presenters said there are lawsuits pending related to the funding but that decisions so far have gone in the county's favor.

Officials described planned outreach and enrollment. The program will begin an enrollment process in the second quarter (which staff noted began in April) and has hired an executive director whose first task will be coordinating enrollment with partner nonprofits. Staff said dedicated grant funds will pay for outreach — door-knocking, in-person education events and paper or online enrollment forms — and that they expect enrollment procedures to be in place before June. "We anticipate it happening before June," the presenter said.

Eligibility and scope: Presenters said the EPA funds, as currently configured, are designated for owner-occupied, single-family homes. Applicants will need to demonstrate ownership, typically by showing a deed or land contract. The presenters said the homeowner-only focus is intended to keep benefits in long-term local households; expanding to rental properties or landlords was described as a potential future phase after initial program success. A commissioner raised historical concerns that landlords in prior owner-occupancy programs converted rental arrangements into land contracts and later foreclosed; presenters said the program will staff field personnel — five hires were mentioned — who can check ownership documentation and steward enrollments.

Workforce and community facilities: Staff said the program includes workforce-development components. Training will offer pre-apprenticeship entry points and higher-level certificates (for example, energy auditing) and is expected to move faster than home-repair work because some partners already have training materials in place. The presenters identified four neighborhood organizations that will receive facility upgrades and serve as enrollment or outreach hubs: Douglas (Douglas Community Association), the Northside Association for Community Development (NACD), the Eastside Neighborhood Association and the Edison Neighborhood Association. Those centers currently run public programming and some serve as certified tornado shelters; upgrades are intended to improve resilience during outages and reduce utility costs.

Additional items: Presenters said the grant will cover installation costs for at least one solar project on the Crosstown parking lot with no local match required. They also described coordination with the city’s lead-abatement program: EPA-eligible labor could be used for lead abatement when appropriate, but staff emphasized they are working with city programs to avoid double-dipping and to steer qualifying residents to the most suitable funding source.

What happens next: Staff said they are working with the EPA and partners to accelerate reimbursements, to finalize enrollment procedures and to staff the program. Commissioners and staff agreed the program’s homeowner-only initial scope and the reimbursement-based funding model require careful documentation and oversight during rollout.