Flood Assistance

This page was developed as a reference point concerning opportunities for people through the Home Performance with Energy Star program for 2011 flood victims in New York State. 

I designed it out of frustration with the general misunderstanding of health & safety in these remodels.  If you buy a gas fired water heater that has a metal chimney you turn your back on over $7500 in potential grants and rebates from New York State. 

No contracting outfit in NY can do all the work there is to be done.  Most outfits cannot provide the opportunities listed here.  Building Performance Institute Accredited firms, (www.bpi.org)  can offer these opportunities.  Most of the rules are simple, some add costs, but the rebates generally cover all additional cost, and in the right circumstance, the rebates will pay you back more than the costs associated with the upgrades and various professionals. 

Gov. Cuomo issued a Flood Relief Rebate Program funded with $8 million to help flood victims pay for repairs to HVAC infrastructure in their homes.  The gas water heaters with the metal chimneys do not qualify for the $400 rebate for water heaters in this program.  Please reference page 2 of this site for information on that https://www.nysappliancerebates.com/.  Generally the units they are offering rebates on are Energy Star labeled, and the conventional gas water heaters do not carry the label. 

New York has a program called Home Performance with Energy Star too.  This program offers loans at 3.99% to all individuals to help pay for weatherization.  The highest loan amount is $20000, the period is 10 years.  Information on that program is available here http://www.getenergysmart.org/SingleFamilyHomes/ExistingBuilding/HomeOwner.aspx. 

The Home Performance with Energy Star program has an offering called Assisted Home Performance that allows grants of 50% of job cost up to $5000 for qualified individuals.  This program is income limited to people who make 80% of median income in their county for that family size.  In Broome County, and most surrounding counties, for a single income residence you could be eligible for a free $5000 if you make less than $34267.  For a family of 4 the income level is $65507.  NYSERDA has advised all contractors that the rebate for Gov Coumo can be used to pay a portion of the homeowners half of the cost of work if the homeowner can qualify for the assisted Home Performance program.  Income levels for Assisted Home Performance can be found at http://www.getenergysmart.org/HouseholdIncome.aspx’ 

This means qualified individuals who need more than $10,000 in HVAC and Insulation work can get the assisted grant of $5000, and a furnace rebate of $2000, water heater rebate of $400, washing machine rebate of $250, and clothes dryer rebate of $250, among others.  That is $7900.  The Assisted Home Performance Grants do not require individuals to use loans through this program; you can use loans from your local banker to pay the portion of the job cost that may not be covered by these rebates and grants. 

There is more.

New York also has a program called Green Residential Building Program.  I have not been able to find out if this program can be used in combination with the Appliance Rebate program or the Home Performance Program.  http://www.getenergysmart.org/greenbuilding.aspx  .  The incentive to build green is $5125.   This program is not income limited.  To be eligible for it, the owner has to replace 2 of 3 major systems in the house.  The major systems are Heating, Plumbing, and Electric.  Most flood victims are replacing at least 2 of these three. 
Please call and ask about these programs, use the sites above and those below here for more information.    This notification is going to several professional groups with a request for contact info for the various professionals needed for the Green Residential Building Program who have interest in working in the flood stricken regions of NY.  It will also be sent to chambers of commerce, Building Code, and other regional resources for flood victims.

www.bpi.org will find contractors. 

http://www.getenergysmart.org/Resources/FindPartner.aspx?t=19  is to find Green Residential Building Technicians. (we are not presently listed there, but will be soon, we do qualify.  Contractors cannot serve as green verifiers on projects they materially profit from.  We have verifiers on staff but we cannot verify our own work.)

LEED for Homes participants can be found at http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1554
HERS raters can be found at
http://www.getenergysmart.org/Resources/FindPartner.aspx?t=3 
http://www.resnet.us/trade/home-energy-raters-hers-raters

(Again, we are not listed there, we do have certified raters on staff, but we prefer to use outside raters so there are not conflict of interest issues)