Barriers To Completing Weatherization in Atlanta Homes: Cost And Control
Although grants from privately or locally funded organizations provide property owners some support to make changes protecting them from climate and environmental burdens, top barriers preventing them from investing in weatherization include cost, inability to make repairs themselves, lack of information, ineligibility for programs, and uncertainty about benefits.
While cost is the largest barrier (56%) to participating in a weatherization program (Figure 12), Atlanta residents frequently cite a lack of information about aid programs, suggesting a need for better and more coordinated marketing of existing programs towards populations who can benefit the most. This may be especially true for senior residents who are wary of strangers because of increased solicitation by fraudulent actors. Even residents who participate in weatherization programs say that it is difficult to understand what is available to them and to differentiate between the types of services they need most as they manage living costs for their households.
“I think there may be more conversations to kind of make people understand exactly what it is. Because I know initially, like maybe two, three years ago, I’m like, ‘Climate control? That’s not me [...].’ So I think that there’s a level of awareness. And I consider myself to be like, ‘Okay, I have a college degree, I read, I understand things.’ But right now it’s like, I had to make sure people in my house are fed. I had to make sure.” – Homeowner
“Yeah, it’s trust. You got, you guys… say your mom or your grandma, 100 something, 60-70 years old, and you’re talking to them about home improvement, and you say, ‘You got a checking account?’ And they go, ‘Yeah.’ ‘What’s your account number?’ You caught, you caught. Grandma all her life saving, gone. Her check for next month gone, you know? But that’s how we… that’s how things happen. Or they come and they sit there and they got a whole bunch of brochures, and they talking real fast and they got her mind all wandering. And she don’t have anybody there to help her find the right plan that she need, even though, even you can be [a] legit place. You come in now, you got five or six brochures… Even for me to be in a good state of mind, I would get confused. I don’t know. I don’t know A from B, you know? Especially if you coming at me with a whole bunch of papers, you get confused. So we need to find, we need to have more senior centers that will bring in the resources that our seniors need. We need more senior activities for them to do so that they can be still active, even in their golden years. That’s just, that’s what I think should happen.” – Renter
Gatekeeping can lead to residents in predominantly Black communities having limited knowledge about climate and environmental burdens, as well as weatherization as a tool to curb utility costs and protect homes from weather-related damage. The need for more information is colored by a history of distrust within these communities. Continuous failures to repair systemic harm often leave residents unwilling to engage with support services, even when those services are accessible for fear that their homes may be taken away. Attention is needed to reimagine the relationship between Southwest Atlanta residents, private companies, and public institutions, so residents can benefit from locally- or corporate-sponsored initiatives. Community resilience centers, which could be integrated in community centers or public libraries, may be a solution for this by providing neighborhood members with a safe environment to gather and interact with one another, and to share important information to reduce fears and build trust with each other and public institutions.24
“There’s a whole level of trauma and stuff that our people and some of my neighbors have about just going through these processes. Like redlining. Like, ‘I don’t know if I trust you to put a lien on nothing because you might take my house. All for me to get a lower...get some solar panels on my roof.’ What? I think it’s, it’s education, but it’s also like, ‘Well, I don’t trust these people out here.’ I don’t. I still don’t.” - Homeowner
“Because if you brought me the [energy-efficient] light bulbs, I should see a difference. [Laughing] Why isn’t it changed? And let them handle it. Because as a layperson, they’re just like, ‘Oh, we had a price hike. We’re building a new fan.’ Or whatever, they talkin’ about. It’s always something they building. Then they have an influx. But they don’t give it back to [the customer]… They give it to their top head…to do something else.” - Property owner and business owner
For renters, not owning property can mean limited or unenforced tenant protections, leaving them vulnerable. Renters experience a more limited ability to address housing concerns without the approval and willingness of property owners who pay for upgrades. Frequently, these upgrades require changes to the physical structure of homes, like insulating walls or upgrading doors and windows. Although some property owners are willing to weatherize homes when shown proof of cost-effectiveness, others are less amenable, deferring costs for upgrades to renters and even showcasing a willingness to displace tenants to increase profit.
“He’s a businessman, so you will have to come at him in a business format. With the pros and your cons. And how this would, you know, the big over picture, the whole picture. And I’m quite sure you can pitch up to him. Anybody will pitch us up to him. It’s that you got to make sure you have all your information. [Your] pros and cons and how it would look like, what it would look like… Even in the future. ‘Okay, so we’re talking about what happened today, but look down the road, five years, you won’t have to do this anymore? That won’t have to be done.’ …Make sure you got your pros and cons. Make sure you got a foolproof plan, you know, and have some examples. Be able to show some examples. ‘Okay, we did this to this house five years ago, but this is what it looked like. Then this is what it would look like now.’ So that stuff… And/or that it won’t disturb [their] renters. Say, if I’m doing a change on the house. ‘Okay, we don’t have to relocate your renters. They can still stay there.’” - Renter
“And they haven’t did any updates or upgrades on you know, the apartments [since 1974], you know, inside… As far as my heating bill in the wintertime, it still doesn’t get high. It stays there. And when I say insulation, is because I’ve sent several emails and talked with the management about… I think those apartments needs to be upgraded where we get the storm windows and the patio door needs to be there, because there is kind of a little gap in between the patio door where it’s open and closes. And during the wintertime, I do have to get that covered up. But other than that, it’s okay… And so far, I haven’t been able to talk them into doing that.”- Renter
The level of negligence disinvested property owners and managers show extends to general upkeep of properties and issues of affordability for renters, as housing costs rise.
“I told him if I’m gonna keep staying in your house, I think you need to fix some of your properties. You need to fix the window, because of my own health, my safety, my mom’s safety, and my brother’s safety. So I think everything should be okay. He got angry, he was like, ‘You need to pack up if you think you can leave. If you think the window is not really good for you, it’s not okay for your family, so I think you just need to move. Maybe someone else, you can just come in, someone who loves the place. Who feel very comfortable using that particular window.’ I just felt like… ‘Okay.’ Because my mom was like, she loved this place, you know. She loved the like, the quiet environment and everything. That she’s okay with it. That we shouldn’t move.”- Renter
Despite this, residents find other ways to push back against the authority of property owners unwilling to make improvements by continually advocating for themselves, being agentic, and researching other resources.
“When I went down there in April I asked them for… I come to sign my lease, and she said, ‘Well, you know, your rent going up to market value.’ I said, ‘Well, excuse me?’ I said, ‘No, hell it’s not! I’m not paying market value, because these are not market value apartments.’ I said, ‘If I’m gonna pay market value, then you need to come in and do everything that I need to have done to that apartment.’” - Renter
