WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., reintroduced the Whole-Home Repairs Act, a bipartisan bill to address the nationwide housing crisis by providing essential home repair assistance to low- and moderate-income homeowners and small landlords.
The legislation seeks to replicate the successful Whole-Home Repairs program spearheaded in Pennsylvania on a federal scale through a five-year pilot initiative. Senators Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Tina Smith, D-Minn., joined as original cosponsors.
“Last year, we took an idea that was born and bred in Pennsylvania and brought it to the national stage. Now we’re back to finish the job,” said Fetterman. “Millions of families are living in homes that are unsafe, unhealthy, or unlivable because they can’t afford repairs. The Whole-Home Repairs Act promotes a practical, proven solution to this problem. This program helped thousands of Pennsylvanians stay in their homes, imagine what it could do for families across the country. I will proudly continue pushing to make this happen at the federal level.”
Lummis said, “Bureaucratic red tape continues to pain low-income families throughout the Cowboy State when they apply for federal home repair grants. I am partnering with Senator Fetterman to pilot a program that would make this process easier to navigate for low-income homeowners and small landlords to return their properties to safe conditions for Wyoming families.”
Rounds spoke about the importance of the act for rural communities.
“The Whole-Home Repairs Act will not only provide an opportunity to assist homeowners, but it will also establish a new standard for how federal programs can operate more efficiently,” said Rounds. “Maintaining our existing housing stock is vitally important, especially in rural communities where it is often cost prohibitive to develop new housing.”
Smith added, “Without a safe, decent place to live, nothing in your life works. For too many families, it’s increasingly difficult to keep up with major home repairs that are essential to maintaining a safe household.”
Across the country, an estimated 6.7 million Americans live in homes with serious deficiencies such as leaking roofs, mold, faulty wiring, or inadequate heating and cooling systems. These issues disproportionately affect renters, low-income households, and communities of color, exacerbating existing inequalities in health, safety, and financial stability. By addressing housing deterioration at its root, the Whole-Home Repairs Act tackles one of the biggest contributors to the housing shortage: the loss of livable housing units to blight and decay.
The Whole-Home Repairs Act expands on a Pennsylvania program that provided grants and forgivable loans to help homeowners and small landlords repair and weatherize their properties. The Pennsylvania program also supported training and pre-apprenticeship programs to create jobs and build a skilled workforce for the future.
The Whole-Home Repairs Act has earned praise from a wide range of housing advocates and organizations.
