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Tag: Homeowners

Lancaster energy company eyes continued leadership in solar market

Lancaster-based Paradise Energy Solutions is poised to continue being a leader in the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) solar market. 

A family-owned, full-service provider of solar energy services, Paradise Energy Solutions lists new installation incentives, warranties, and guarantees, a growing service department, and emerging technologies as ways to empower businesses, farmers, and homeowners. The company recently announced the installation of its 2,000th solar energy system. 

“We’ve always tried to build a sustainable company with a long-term view of our business anchored in our vision of helping people be good stewards of God’s abundant resources,” Dale Good, president and CEO of Paradise Energy Solutions, said in a statement. 

“That can be very challenging in an industry like solar installation, which in its short history has had many ups and downs. But our approach has provided a bright future for our company and our customers who rely on us.” 

Founded by four brothers, Paradise Energy Solutions started with the brothers installing their first solar system for their father at the family farm. The company has grown to over 100 employees and its 2,000 successful installations are equivalent to 84.12 MW of solar energy across eight mid-Atlantic states. 

The company provides turnkey grid-tied solar installations and maintenance services throughout the mid-Atlantic region. 

Good said Paradise Energy Solutions emphasizes staying true to its core values. 

“Lots of companies aspire to desirable and honorable core values, but far fewer actually live them,” said Good. “In fact, core values are really more of a reflection of who we are than who we want to be. If we are truly living our values, then we will serve others well.”

Senior, vulnerable homeowners and renters are focal point of new legislation

Legislation has been introduced by Pennsylvania State Representatives this week that will equalize income levels, increase rebate amounts, and raise the highest income bracket for senior and vulnerable homeowners and renters. 

Seeking to expand Pennsylvania’s Property Tax/Rent Rebate (PTRR) Program, State Reps. Izzy Smith-Wade-El (D-Lancaster) and Carol Hill-Evans (D-York) introduced the legislation on Monday. 

“It has become too hard to afford a home in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Smith-Wade-El said in a statement. “For many of our senior homeowners and renters, the place in which they live is a legacy of work, life, and love, and we have an obligation to protect them and that legacy by helping them stay in their homes.” 

Smith-Wade-El added that older Pennsylvanians are struggling to pay for necessities such as food and rent. 

“Despite rising inflation and cost-of-living increases,” Smith-Wade-El said, “PTRR’s income limits, rebate amounts, and other provisions have not been modified to correspond to these economic changes, resulting in fewer people qualifying for the program and the program rebates failing to provide the necessary financial assistance.” 

Smith-Wade-El stated that the PTRR has long discriminated against renters, stating that they deserve less support than homeowners. Expanding the PTRR will provide the needed support to allow seniors and individuals with disabilities to remain living in their homes. 

“If we act now to expand PTRR,” Smith-Wade-El said, “we can preserve this crucial support for thousands of seniors who would otherwise lose eligibility next year because their Social Security cost-of-living adjustments will push them above the eligibility threshold.” 

The highest available current rebate is $650 for homeowners and renters with up to $8,000 in household income, with lower rebates available for those with higher incomes; while homeowners with income up to $35,000 qualify for a property tax rebate, renters can only receive a rent rebate if their income does not exceed $15,000. 

The reforms sought by Smith-Wade-El and Hill-Evans in their legislation would have the same income brackets and increase the rebate amounts for homeowners and renters: those with income below $15,000 would be eligible for a $1,300 rebate; those with an income of $15,001-$25,000 would be eligible for a $975 rebate, and those with an income of $25,001-$45,000 would be eligible for a $650 rebate. 

“Significantly, the legislation would extend the highest income bracket from $35,000 to $45,000 to match today’s cost of living and so provide thousands more Pennsylvanians the support they deserve from the PTRR,” Smith-Wade-El said. 

Hill-Evans urged legislators to act quickly to expand the housing protections to protect Pennsylvania residents who are in danger of losing their homes. 

“None of our vulnerable neighbors deserve to lose the roof over their head,” Hill-Evans said in a statement. “It’s the right thing to do, especially when you consider the current economic climate and how long it’s been since we’ve adjusted the program’s income parameters.” 

Smith-Wade-El wondered how many Pennsylvania grandmothers and grandfathers are being pushed out of their homes by rising living costs. The legislation introduced by him and Hill-Evans, Smith-Wade-El said, will “help expand the safety net so that senior and disabled members of our community can keep their roofs over their heads.” 

A sense of urgency to reform the PTRR program is shared by Gov. Josh Shapiro, Smith-Wade El said. In his inaugural budget address Shapiro proposed expanding the PTRR Program by raising income eligibility caps to $45,000 for both homeowners and renters, indexing eligibility caps to inflation, and increasing maximum rebates to $1,000.  

The first major update since 2006, these changes would expand program eligibility to 173,000 individuals and increase assistance to an additional 398,000 people. 

Smith-Wade-El and Hill-Evans said they look forward to partnering with Shapiro to expand PTRR so that vulnerable seniors and persons with disabilities in Pennsylvania can stay in their homes. 

Wolf administration launches $350 million Pa. Homeowner assistance fund 

Pennsylvania homeowners that are at or below 150% of their region’s median income will soon be able to apply for financial assistance through the new Pennsylvania Homeowner Assistance Fund (PAHAF). 

The Wolf administration announced this week that the new fund, administered by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), has been approved by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

The fund consists of $350 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds through the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Homeowner Assistance Fund and will be given to Pennsylvania homeowners grappling with unforeseen financial hardships as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“As we continue to advance our COVID-19 recovery efforts, we must address the rising number of homeowners facing possible loss of their homes and foreclosure – this program will do just that,” said Gov. Tom Wolf. “The Homeowner Assistance Fund will prioritize individuals and families with the greatest need, as well as those who are socially disadvantaged. I am grateful that the U.S. Treasury has approved Pennsylvania’s plan, and we can start the new year by distributing this critical funding to homeowners.”   

PAHAF will use the funds to provide eligible Pennsylvania homeowners with much-needed assistance to prevent and/or ease mortgage delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures, displacement and utility disconnection. 

Our mission is to help Pennsylvanians achieve housing stability despite the many hardships faced during these uncertain times,” said Robin Wiessmann, executive director and CEO of the PHFA. “PAHAF will provide critical support to eligible Pennsylvania homeowners, allowing families to recover and helping communities overcome the devastating financial and economic impacts of the pandemic.“ 

Applications for the fund open on Feb. 1. Applicants that qualify for the assistance must be a Pennsylvania homeowner that saw a reduction of income or increase in living expenses due to the pandemic after January 21, 2020. 

More than 6M households missed their rent or mortgage payment in September

Persistent layoffs are slowing momentum in the labor market, which bodes poorly for the broader U.S. recovery as millions of out-of-work Americans delay their mortgage and rent payments.

More than 6 million households failed to make their rent or mortgage payments in September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Research Institute for Housing America, a sign that the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is weighing on jobless Americans as Congress stalls on relief measures.

In the third quarter, the percent of homeowners and renters behind on their payments fell slightly from the prior quarter. Still, the overall amount remains high, experts caution.

Over the summer, rent and mortgage payment collections improved as states resumed business reopenings and more Americans returned to work. High unemployment, however, continues to place hardships on millions of U.S. households.

The unemployment rate fell to 7.9% from 8.4% in August, the Labor Department said earlier this month. Overall, the economy is still recouping jobs in outsize fashion after shedding a record 22.1 million in early spring, but the recovery is slowing.

In September, 8.5% of renters, or 2.82 million households, missed, delayed or made a reduced payment while 7.1%, or 3.37 million homeowners, missed their mortgage payment.

Renters receiving unemployment benefits rose from 3% in early April to 7% by the end of September. Mortgagers getting jobless aid remained unchanged at 3% during that time span.

Congress stalls on COVID-19 relief 

Congress hasn’t approved additional coronavirus relief since March, when both chambers came to bipartisan compromises on a handful of bills that totaled more than $3 trillion, including one-time $1,200 checks to Americans and a $600 weekly unemployment boost.Economists worry that millions of U.S. households face the prospect of falling further behind in the coming months without another round of much needed federal aid.

“With the current eviction moratorium expiring in January, the situation could be even more challenging for renters,” Gary V. Engelhardt, professor of economics in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, said in a note. “Many renter households across the country could find themselves with no place to live and no means to repay missed payments.”

In September, the Trump administration implemented a national moratorium on residential evictions through the end of the year. The moratorium, which will run through Dec. 31, applies to individuals earning less than $99,000 a year and who are unable to make rent or housing payments.

Republicans and Democrats have been deadlocked for months over passing a new coronavirus stimulus package, sparring over issues such as the amount of money to give in a federal unemployment benefit.

The Republican-controlled Senate is set to act on a roughly $500 billion relief proposal next week, an amount rejected by congressional Democrats as insufficient to tackle the pandemic. On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that passing another COVID-19 relief package before the election would be “difficult.”