Weatherization Assistance Program

CPC was awarded a $5 million grant by New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) to provide energy-saving upgrades to over 1,200 affordable apartments in upstate New York, administered by CPC’s Syracuse office. These energy-efficient upgrades include replacing old furnaces and windows, installing insulation and replacing inefficient lighting. The upgrades will reduce energy costs for property owners and tenants by an estimated 20%.

It is estimated that there are more than 200,000 units in upstate New York built more than 50 years ago that are long overdue for improvements. The WAP program seeks to be a model for upgrading this large and aging housing stock. Additional benefits of the program include local job-creation and improved financial strength in low-income properties by cutting energy bills which may actually enable some projects to stay solvent.

New York State’s Weatherization Assistance Program is the largest residential energy conservation program in the country. It channels Federal money from the U.S. Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services to the State through HCR.

Projects benefiting from the Weather Assistance Program in the Syracuse area:

• In Geneva, new energy-efficient windows are being installed in 50-unit apartment building. The new windows were manufactured locally.
• In Canandaigua, obsolete refrigerators were replaced in all 131 apartments at the 80 Parrish Street Apartments complex. The winning bidder for this project was a woman-owned business in Syracuse that employs 30 workers.
• 50-year old furnaces and deteriorated roofs are being replaced at a 188-unit public housing complex in Auburn. Household incomes for residents of this complex average only $12,000 per year.
• The Syracuse Housing Authority will use WAP funds to insulate the walls of hundreds of public housing apartments that were built in the 1950s without insulation.

For more information contact: Andrew D’Agostino adagostino@communityp.com