Northeast Indiana area slow to warm to cash of federal stimulus

Angela Mapes Turner, The Journal Gazette

aturner@jg.net

Stimulus money to help low-income households keep warm has been slow going out the door in northeast Indiana.

Indiana gave about half its federal stimulus money for weatherization of low-income homes to a politically active builders association, which has completed work on just a handful of homes in seven northeast Indiana counties. Other local agencies experienced in weatherization programs are having less trouble meeting federal benchmarks but are still struggling because of a late start and high expectations.

The Indiana Builders Association is responsible for weatherizing homes in DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash and Wells counties and has a goal of weatherizing 537 homes in those counties by May. As of Monday, about 45 percent of those homes were in progress - meaning work was being done or at least had been approved, Indiana Builders Association CEO Rick Wajda said.