The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding

This briefing argues that increasing stimulus funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) can address systemic racial and income inequities in the United States by improving energy affordability, creating domestic jobs, and enhancing public health for low-income households.

• Low-income and non-White households in the United States face disproportionate energy burdens and insecurity. Non-White households, totaling 15 million, experience some form of energy insecurity at a rate of 45 percent. The lowest income bands, which suffer from the highest energy burdens, are disproportionately Black.
• The Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) provides significant financial and health benefits, saving occupants an average of nearly $300 annually on energy bills and delivering total benefits exceeding $13,000 per home. Despite weatherizing over 7.4 million units since 1976, the program is chronically underfunded and reaches less than 1 percent of the 30 million eligible households annually.
• The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) demonstrated the efficacy of WAP stimulus investment by allocating $2 billion to weatherize over 340,000 low-income homes. This resulted in $1.1 billion in energy savings, $4.5 billion in total benefits, the support of 28,000 jobs, and a reduction of nearly 7.4 million metric tons of carbon.
• To maximize the impact of future stimulus funding, the author recommends three key improvements based on ARRA lessons: expanding approved measures to include electrification (such as heat pumps and induction stoves) to improve indoor air quality; investing in sustainable workforce development and diversity; and improving administrative resource allocation through cross-agency collaboration.

APA

RMI (2020). The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding. https://rmi.org/resources/the-wonders-of-weatherization-improving-equity-through-stimulus-funding/

Chicago

RMI. The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding. 2020. https://rmi.org/resources/the-wonders-of-weatherization-improving-equity-through-stimulus-funding/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding |date=26 August 2020 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/the-wonders-of-weatherization-improving-equity-through-stimulus-funding/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2020wonders, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{The Wonders of Weatherization: Improving Equity through Stimulus Funding}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/the-wonders-of-weatherization-improving-equity-through-stimulus-funding/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }