Miami Valley Community Action Partnership

Weatherization program: the home weatherization assistance program (hwap) is a no-cost assistance program designed to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy costs of dwellings owned or occupied by income-eligible households. Weatherization services are provided for customers residing in nine counties in west central Ohio: auglaize, butler, darke, greene, mercer, Miami, montgomery, preble, and warren. The goal is to reduce household energy expenditures and to improve overall health and safety. Hwap promotes energy efficiency by providing services that include insulation, duct sealing, weather stripping, and heating and cooling systems upgrades. The program is federally funded jointly by the u.s. department of health and human services and the department of energy and is available to customers with an annual household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. After weatherization, households that heat with natural gas reduced space heating consumption by an average of 24.7%, and electrically heated homes decreased their usage by an average of 13%. Hwap services reduce the percentage of the utility bills that their customers pay. In addition, the rate of utility services disconnections for this group decreased by 50%. Weatherization programs are also funded by centerpoint energy (fka vectren) and aes Ohio (fka dp&l). Households weatherized in 2023: 1,374.

Energy assistance programs: the home energy assistance program provides a one-time emergency payment per season applied directly to the customer's utility or bulk fuel bill. The winter crisis program helps income-eligible customers threatened with disconnection, have been disconnected, or have less than a 25 percent supply of bulk fuel in their tank to maintain their utility service. The summer crisis program assists low-income households or those that have a disconnection notice, have been shut off, are trying to establish new service on their electric bill, require air conditioning, or those with an elderly household member (60 years or older) who can provide physician documentation that cooling assistance is needed for their health. Qualifying medical conditions can include lung disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and others. Income eligibility for both the winter and summer crisis programs is 175% of the federal poverty level. Percentage of income payment plan (pipp) is a program providing a reduced monthly energy payment for homeowners and renters based on a percentage of income for households with an income at or below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines and have utility service from an electric or natural gas company regulated by the public utility commission of Ohio. In 2023, approximately 21,005 households were served by these utility assistance programs.

American rescue plan act home relief grant - arpahrg. Provides for necessary expenditures incurred due to the covid-19 public health emergency. The Ohio department of development allocated u.s. department of treasury funds to assist low-income households in darke, greene, montgomery, preble, and warren counties who are obligated to pay rent on a primary residence with rent, rental arrears, utility/home energy costs, and utility/home energy cost arrears. Eligible households have gross income at or below 80% of ami (area median income) and have qualified for unemployment benefits or experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experienced other financial hardship during or due, directly, or indirectly, to the coronavirus pandemic. The funding is in place from august 1, 2022, through october 31, 2023. Mvcap served 483 households in 2023.

Community services block grant programs: the Community services block grant (csbg) program provides various services and activities for low-income individuals to alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty. The program is designed to provide maximum flexibility to meet locally defined needs. Income eligibility for csbg programs is at or below 200% of the federal poverty guideline. Programs are provided in darke, greene, montgomery, preble county, and warren counties. They include emergency services (e.g., rent, utility, transportation, medical assistance, housing-focused shelter services), legal clinic, micro-enterprise business development and training, emergency home repair, home foreclosure, and first-time home buyer counseling, transitional and emergency housing, and tax credit property administration.