St. Paul HRA previews Healthy Homes, Power of Home grants to weatherize low‑income homes

At a meeting of the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority, staff presented guidelines and implementation plans for two new home‑improvement programs aimed at low‑income households: Healthy Homes and Power of Home.

The Healthy Homes program, funded with a one‑time $1 million allocation from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, is designed to cover pre‑weatherization repairs and health‑and‑safety work that currently keeps some income‑qualified homes from accessing existing weatherization services. Power of Home, backed by an ongoing $300,000 annual allocation from Xcel Energy franchise fees, is intended to support higher‑cost electrification measures such as cold‑climate heat pumps and other appliance upgrades.

Project manager Danielle Sindelar said the programs are intended to work together and reduce upfront cost barriers for households that cannot afford repairs even when long‑term energy savings are likely. “Our goal is to improve the energy efficiency of homes with people in Saint Paul who cannot afford some of these costs upfront,” Sindelar said. She told commissioners the city plans to offer the programs as grants (no repayment) and to pay contractors directly.

Staff said Healthy Homes will target households at or below 80% area median income (AMI) and focus on 1–4 unit properties that cannot otherwise be served because of…