$23 million for weatherization work spreads across Washington state

Five months after congressional approval, about $23 million in federal weatherization money is finally flowing across the state, putting theoretical plans for economic stimulus into elbow-grease practice.

The goal is multipronged: Make low-income homes more energy-efficient, provide and retain "green" jobs and help resuscitate a gasping economy. When the second wave of federal money arrives next year, almost $60 million in weatherization money will have been spread around Washington.

State weatherization director Steve Payne expects about 7,000 dwellings will be updated. Two weeks ago, the state Commerce Department, where he works as managing director of Housing Improvements and Preservation, began authorizing 26 housing agencies around the state to manage local work.

Seattle's weatherization program, called HomeWise and operated by the city Office of Housing, is receiving about $2.4 million in stimulus money this year. That extra money about doubles what the agency usually spends on weatherization annually. The HomeWise staff estimates the new money will help make an additional 1,000 homes more energy-efficient.

The King County Housing Authority will receive about $2.6 million in stimulus money for weatherization this year, while Snohomish County will get $1.4 million.

The $787 billion federal stimulus package — known formally as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) — provides $5 billion nationwide over three years for residential weatherization.

The program aims to help low-income families and lone occupants by reducing their heating and cooling costs through greater energy efficiency. Measures can range from replacing furnaces and insulating walls and ceilings, to weatherstripping and installing energy-efficient light bulbs. Every home will receive an energy audit, which identifies cost-effective measures. Some of the homes will require repair work.

A portion of the money also will go toward training weatherization workers, auditing the spending and other overhead costs.

When President Obama signed the legislation in late February, he trumpeted how it would create jobs and help revive the economy. But the weatherization work has been delayed as the federal government plowed through details of the massive program, most notably how to determine appropriate wages for the contractors.

ARRA requires that weatherization contractors comply with the Davis-Bacon Act, which sets a minimum wage on federally funded construction projects. Davis-Bacon hadn't been applied to large-scale weatherization efforts before, so there were no job classifications or wage rates covering such workers.

The U.S. Labor and Energy departments are still trying to determine what's appropriate. But Payne's department wants the money spent and has begun prodding agencies this month to begin work and make adjustments if necessary when federal officials reach their conclusions.

"It's a balance between finding the right wage and weatherizing as many units as we can," Payne said. "The more the work costs, the less energy conservation investment we can make."

Bill Rumpf, deputy director of the city's Department of Housing, says his agency used the time to ramp up its marketing, develop strategies to handle the added activity and hire and train staff.

Administrators now are focused on spending the first wave of money rapidly so their agencies are in line for the second round of funding next spring.

Seattle expects to receive another $2.4 million in stimulus weatherization money next year.

In 2008, HomeWise spent $2.7 million to weatherize 877 Seattle low-income homes and distributed 30,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs. The effort, HomeWise says, saved enough electricity to power 232 average Seattle households and reduced carbon-dioxide emissions by the equivalent of taking 255 cars off the road.

Payne says evaluations have shown that weatherization efforts typically result in energy savings of 20 to 30 percent. Since 1987, approximately 125,000 single-family, manufactured, multifamily or mobile homes have been weatherized statewide.

What's more difficult to evaluate is the economic benefit achieved through a large-scale weatherization program. Payne said his agency estimates that 200 jobs will be created or "sustained" statewide.

So far, HomeWise has hired two additional staff people for two-year positions and is seeking a third person.

"I'll be able to give more specific Seattle impacts after we've started putting out more jobs and we measure what the employment impact is for our contractors," Rumpf said.

Rumpf said he also doesn't have a sense whether job creation will come solely from the usual weatherization contractors hiring more workers or from new contractors securing some of the jobs. He noted that four contractors regularly bid on HomeWise weatherization jobs, but that two additional companies have begun bidding recently.

The King County Housing Authority has existing contracts with its subcontractors, so any employment gain will mostly be dependent on those firms hiring more workers.

Richard Seven: 206-464-2241 or rseven@seattletimes.com