Analysis of Thomas Flaherty Interview

The weatherization assistance program, otherwise known as WAP, is one of they only assistance programs that applies interventions to physical fabric of the home.  The goal of the WAP is strictly to achieve energy efficiency of the home and is otherwise helpless, sometimes even deleterious when it comes to homes in need of major repairs. Take mold for example, according to one interview,  

“Air sealing is the primary piece of how weatherization is effective. Insulation helps, but it's primarily the air sealing and if you have moisture issues existing in a home, don't treat them and reduce air flow, then you're actually going to negatively impact indoor air quality. No one should ever do that. If you walk into a moldy home, you either don't weatherize it or find the source of the moisture, remediate it, repair all. Remediate all the mold and then weatherize it. So if there isn't a clear, consistent funding source for moisture issue identification and resolution, then you can't weatherize homes with genuine repair problems.” (Flaherty, 2020)

Flaherty goes on to explain that in order to serve deeply dilapidated homes, co-funding must be leveraged from foundations and are usually one time grants and funding can run out quickly especially in a small pool foundations dedicated to housing and environment.

By design, WAP primarily services homeowners and is less likely to benefit those facing more systemic issues of poverty, such as low to middle income renters. Clearly, more coordinated strategies are necessary to keep people in their homes or assist with voluntary relocation.