Home repair program in Pa. would continue investment in essential renovations

A street in Shamokin in Northumberland County. The county got more than $1 million for residential improvements like plumbing and weatherization through the Whole Home Repair Program, which has since run out of its American Rescue Plan funding. State lawmakers are proposing a similar successor funded at $50 million per year. (Emily Previti/Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
A home repair program that Pennsylvanians really seem to need, based on the response, could continue if state officials can agree on how to run it.
A bipartisan group of state legislators announced – just before budget talks officially start in Harrisburg – they'll co-sponsor forthcoming legislation creating the PA Home Preservation Program.
https://penncapital-star.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/31epHPP-web-audio.mp3
Gov. Josh Shapiro's proposed budget allocates $50 million for the program.
It took mere months to spend four times that amount through the similarly-focused Whole Home Repair Program.
The WHRP diverted $125 million to financing weatherization, plumbing and other essential improvements to thousands of residential units across the state starting last September, according to the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
And more 18,000 applicants, combined, were left on waitlists kept by pass-through agencies, according to the planned bill's co-sponsorship memo.
Lawmakers used a one-time federal infusion from the American Rescue Plan to create the WHRP.
Program requirements limited homeowners to those making no more than 80 percent of median area household income. Landlords couldn't own more than five properties and 15 affordable units across all properties. And it capped project costs at $50,000 per unit.
State officials view the WHRP as a pilot for the proposed PA Home Preservation program that's intended to be more permanent.
'It is not easy to sort of do all this coordination, build out relationships with contractors, … [and] sub-grantees,' said DCED Secretary Rick Siger during the agency's budget hearing earlier this year. 'But we have a path now…informed by, frankly, just learning a bunch of stuff as we ran Whole Home Repair.'
The new initiative likely would have income limits for homeowner recipients and prioritize senior citizens, according to prime sponsor Rep. Lindsay Powell, D-Pittsburgh.
Other than that, few details have been hashed out, Powell said Friday.
But one would be an effort to keep program guidelines as consistent as possible, she said. She cited constantly changing expectations and reporting requirements as a major challenge during her time on Pittsburgh's Urban Redevelopment Authority Board.
Siger, Powell and others have pointed to the age of Pennsylvania's housing stock as another reason to invest in renovation and rehabilitation, with nearly 60 percent of homes statewide dating back to before 1970.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

42 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Can Nike Stock Make a Comeback? Here's What to Expect from NKE's Q4 Earnings.

Nike (NKE) is set to report its fourth quarter fiscal 2025 earnings on Thursday, June 26, amid a period of transition and uncertainty. While the sportswear giant has undertaken a series of turnaround efforts to regain its footing, the results of those strategies are not expected to show meaningful traction just yet. In the meantime, the upcoming earnings release is expected to reflect the weight of ongoing challenges, including intense competition, a sluggish Chinese market, and increased markdown activity. Notably, Nike's performance has been sluggish over the past several quarters. Given its weak performance, Nike stock has underperformed the broader markets. Moreover, it is down about 20.5% year-to-date. Robotaxis, Powell and Other Key Things to Watch this Week The 7 Signs Your Stock Is A Buyout Target These 3 Stocks Have Been Hot in 2025. Should You Sell Them Now Before It's Too Late? Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines. For many investors, Q4 results may be less about the actual numbers and more about what lies ahead. The market will closely watch management's outlook for the fiscal first quarter and how well Nike is positioned to navigate tariff pressures. With nearly all of its production outside the U.S., Nike remains vulnerable to international trade disruptions and tariff-related cost pressures. Overall, market sentiment around Nike stock remains cautious ahead of the Q4 report. This means that a weak Q4 print is already factored into Nike's stock price. However, management's positive commentary for fiscal 2026 and its efforts around mitigating tariff-related headwinds could lift the stock. From a financial perspective, Nike's Q4 will remain weak. The company is likely to report declining sales for its classic footwear lines. Furthermore, traffic across both its direct-to-consumer and wholesale channels is expected to remain soft, and the company may continue to report weakness in China, its key growth market outside the U.S. Nike's management has guided for revenues to decline in the mid-teens range year-over-year in Q4, citing headwinds such as unfavorable shipment timing in North America and adverse foreign exchange impacts. Its margins are likely to remain under stress. Gross margins are projected to fall by 400 to 500 basis points, driven by a mix of restructuring charges, discounts, inventory challenges, and a less favorable product and channel mix. While Nike has faced significant competitive and macro headwinds, it has shown a knack for beating expectations. Nike has outpaced analysts' earnings forecasts for four consecutive quarters, including a significant beat in its most recent report. However, the company's fourth-quarter earnings are expected to continue declining. Analysts predict earnings per share of just $0.11, reflecting a sharp drop from $1.01 in the same quarter a year ago, as markdowns and softer demand will likely take a toll. While Nike is facing short-term headwinds, it is taking steps to turn things around. The sportswear giant is focusing on innovation and performance, aiming to refresh its product lineup with a steady stream of new designs and materials, especially in the sports performance segment. Nike is increasing the share of new products in each seasonal drop while carefully managing the presence of its classic models. On the digital front, Nike is making significant changes. The company is integrating Nike Digital more deeply into its overall marketplace strategy. It's reducing promotional events and markdowns to protect brand value and shifting clearance inventory to Nike Factory Stores instead of selling it online at steep discounts. As a result, Nike expects digital traffic to dip sharply in fiscal 2026. However, over time, as new products are rolled out and brand marketing intensifies, organic digital traffic is expected to stabilize and rebound. Nike is also cleaning up the broader retail landscape. For its digital platform, the company is being selective in what it buys and promotes, supporting a full-price sales model. At Nike Factory Stores, deeper discounts will help move larger volumes of clearance inventory. For wholesale partners, Nike is reducing forward supply, supporting sales with fewer returns, and offering better discounts to help them clear older stock. All these efforts will lead to an acceleration in growth. While Nike is taking steps to regain momentum, its Q4 is expected to reflect ongoing struggles. However, with sentiment cautious and expectations low heading into the report, any positive signals from management regarding future strategy, stabilization in China, or improvements in direct-to-consumer trends could be rewarded by the market. Wall Street has a 'Moderate Buy' consensus rating on Nike stock. Moreover, the average price target of $73.24 reflects decent upside potential of about 22% from current levels. On the date of publication, Sneha Nahata did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on

Yahoo

5 hours ago

• Yahoo

Trump just made the Fed's rate deliberations even more complicated

The Federal Reserve was already wrestling with a lot of uncertainty about the future path of monetary policy, and President Trump's weekend strike on Iran's nuclear sites will likely make that path even cloudier in the near term. The uncertainty of the part of central bank policymakers was already evident last week in the Fed's latest "dot plot" outlining future interest rate moves. While eight officials saw two cuts still happening in 2025, seven officials predicted no cuts at all — up from the four officials who made that call previously. Trump's strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend inject yet another layer of unknowns into those discussions as central bank officials prepare for their next meeting in July and gauge the impact of the president's trade, tax and immigration policies on the path of inflation and economic growth. There are worries from some Fed watchers that a sustained increase in oil prices would add to the inflationary impulse already present in the US from Trump's tariffs. Wall Street analysts at JPMorgan Chase (JPM) have warned that a prolonged conflict and the potential closure of the critical Strait of Hormuz could drive oil prices as high as $120 a barrel, pushing US inflation back toward 5%. That could bolster the argument of some hawks at the Fed that rates need to stay where they are for longer to protect against another inflation surge. On the other hand, there is also an argument circulating on Wall Street that the conflict could push the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates sooner than expected. "A sustained rise in oil prices could cause the Fed to strike a more dovish tone," Oxford Economics chief US economist Ryan Sweet wrote in a recent note to clients before Trump's attack, arguing that an extended oil shock could dent demand and potentially spill over into an otherwise resilient labor market. For this view to hold, Fed officials would have to get comfortable with the idea that any sudden spikes in oil prices tend to cause only a temporary rise in inflation that can be overlooked — and that any such shock could pose a bigger threat to growth and jobs than to inflation itself. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters last Wednesday that while it's possible there could be higher energy prices, what has tended to happen when with turmoil in the Middle East is a spike in energy prices that tends to come down. "Those things don't generally tend to have lasting effects on inflation," Powell said at a press conference after the Fed held rates steady for the fourth meeting in a row. "Although of course in the 1970s, they famously did, because you had a series of very, very large shocks. But, we haven't seen anything like that now. The U.S. economy is far less dependent on foreign oil than it was back in the 1970s." Powell will likely be asked for his views of how Trump's new actions will affect the economy as he appears before House and Senate committees Tuesday and Wednesday, as part of a regular semi-annual appearance before Congress. The Fed will also get a new look at inflation this Friday with the release of the May Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report. Economists expect annual "core" PCE — which excludes the volatile categories of food and energy — to have clocked in at 2.6%, up from the 2.5% seen in April. Over the prior month, economists project "core" PCE at 0.1%, unchanged from May. One influential voice at the Fed did get louder about the case for cuts in the days before Trump's attack, dismissing concerns that any inflation from the president's tariffs could be long lasting. In fact, Fed governor Christopher Waller on Friday told CNBC that rates could be cut at the next meeting on July 29-30. "We could do this as early as July,' Waller said. 'I think we've got room to bring it down, and then we can kind of see what happens with inflation,' he said, adding the central bank could pause if needed due to a shock from developments in the Middle East. One of his colleagues, San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly, is not on the same timetable. 'For me, I look more to the fall,' Daly said in a separate interview on CNBC. 'By then, we'll have quite a bit more information, and businesses are telling me that's what they're going to look to for some resolution.' Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin additionally told Reuters in an interview published Friday that he was not in any rush to cut due to concerns that tariffs could push inflation up and data showing the labor market remains resilient. That aligns with statements made by Powell. He noted last week that recent inflation reports have been favorable, but that goods prices have been moving up following the introduction of new tariffs and there could be more of that this summer. "We're beginning to see some effects, and we do expect to see more of them over the coming months." Thus, the right thing to do for now, he added, is 'hold where we are' on rates. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices

NBC Sports

20 hours ago

• NBC Sports

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro says there will be no state money for sports venues

Two NFL teams call Pennsylvania home. Neither should consider calling Pennsylvania when it's time to finance stadium renovation or construction for their home stadiums. Via the Associated Press, Governor Josh Shapiro made it clear on Sunday that state money will not be available to sports teams. 'I'm very worried about the overall budget,' Shapiro said Sunday before a NASCAR Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway. 'I'm very worried about the overall economic situation given the federal cuts. You want to balance investing in tourism, investing in sports, investing in great arenas and facilities, with making sure that you're also investing those dollars in things that Pennsylvanians need most.' And, in Shapiro's view, Pennsylvanians don't have a pressing need for sports. He nevertheless wants sports — and more of them — in Pennsylvania. 'I will tell you that we want to make sure the Steelers, we want to make sure the Eagles, and all of our pro teams have outstanding places to play,' Shapiro said. 'That are welcoming for fans. That generate revenue. We're going to continue to dialog with them about what they need and what's possible.' There's been a presumption for years that, because members of the public attend sporting events, there's an obligation by their state and local governments to help pay for the venue. Does that happen when someone builds a store that members of the public? A theater? The key words Shapiro used are 'generate revenue.' Sports stadiums generate plenty. More than enough to pay for themselves. Sure, that might result in less profit. But so what? If there's enough profit to justify the investment, that should be good enough. Sports teams aren't entitled to unlimited profit via taxpayer subsidies. The Steelers, who opened their current stadium in 2001, aren't currently angling for a replacement. The Eagles have begun the process of considering whether to renovate Lincoln Financial Field or to replace it. Whatever the approach on either side of the Commonwealth, the two teams have one thing in common. State money won't be available, for as long as Shapiro is in office. Elected in 2022, Shapiro can run again in 2026. So it's possible that the policy won't change before 2030. At the earliest.