Michigan weatherization assistance program income limits are 60% of state median income, while a 183 million dollar federal expansion opened it to apartment buildings

Michigan weatherization assistance program income limits

Michigan weatherization assistance program income limits are set at 60% of the state median income, the midpoint of what households across the state earn, for a household of 1 to 6 people, and at 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, a national income line many aid programs use, for a household of 7 or more people, the state own 2026 plan filed with the federal government states. Weatherization is free work on a home that seals gaps and adds insulation so the home holds heat better and costs less to heat, paid for by government money rather than the homeowner or renter. A Michigan resident does not apply to the state directly. The Bureau of Community Action and Economic Opportunity, a division within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, runs the program through 23 subgrantees, 22 community action agencies and 1 unit of local government, both the bureau own 2026 filing and its 2023 press release state.

A 183 million dollar federal expansion opened apartment buildings

The department received approximately 183 million dollars in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money in 2022, federal infrastructure funding, and used it starting in 2023 to open the weatherization program to apartment buildings of 5 or more units for the first time, its own July 2023 press release states, a figure an independent WCMU public radio report confirmed the same day from a separate source. That 183 million dollar pool sits on top of the roughly 21 million dollars the state received annually at the time, the same press release states, and it is Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money issued in 2022, not a 2026 figure.

Michigan own current federal formula funding is separate from the 183 million dollars

Michigan own federal formula funding for weatherization in program year 2026, the 12 month period the federal government tracks separately from the 183 million dollar pool, totals 24,518,370 dollars, adding 2 of the Department of Energy own lines together, a sum the agency own table does not state directly since it keeps the 2 figures in separate columns. That formula money breaks into 3 parts, chart 1 shows, an 18,741,189 dollar program allocation that pays for the weatherization work itself, a 3,831,482 dollar training and technical assistance allocation, and a 1,945,699 dollar readiness fund, which covers repairs a home needs before weatherization work can begin. This is new federal money for 2026, a separate stream from the 183 million dollars the state received in 2022.

A 150 unit Bay City apartment community shows the expansion at work

Michigan own 2023 decision to open eligibility to apartment buildings of 5 or more units is why a 150 unit apartment community, Baytown Family Neighborhood in Bay City, could be weatherized in a single project in 2025, a category of housing the program could not reach before that change, a Mid Michigan Community Action Agency account of the completed project and the 2023 announcement show together. The project used 1.3 million dollars in Department of Energy Weatherization Assistance Program funding, part of a 2.6 million dollar total once other partner contributions are added in, and reached 324 residents. Workers sealed more than 1,200 windows and doors, replaced 1,526 light fixtures, and installed 700 smoke alarms and 150 carbon monoxide detectors, chart 2 shows.

This project is about more than saving energy, it's about helping families live better.

Johnny Mills, Weatherization Director at Mid Michigan Community Action Agency. Source 4.