Low-Income Weatherization & Electrification
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The Human Resource Council (HRC) is a local non-profit agency that provides energy efficiency and weatherization for homes of our low-income neighbors. The HRC has the expertise and workforce to make numerous home-energy improvements, yet their hands are often tied due to strict funding constraints. It’s so limited that they have to pass on many good measures, even when it could save a homeowner energy and money. We step in to provide the gap funding.
Here’s how it works:
Low-income homeowners contact the HRC. Those who are income eligible receive a home energy audit to evaluate what’s needed. Recommendations often include insulating ceilings and walls, fixing windows, upgrading to more efficient hot water tanks, caulking cracks, and upgrading lighting. HRC takes the audit and then runs the numbers to determine how much energy will saved against the cost of the measure.
Some things pencil out and are a go. Some measures that would significantly benefit the homeowner don’t quite meet the calculation threshold. (It all has to do with NorthWestern Energy and federal funding rules.) All too often HRC has to walk away from a project entirely, or they can provide just a couple of weatherization measures on a home, leaving others undone.
This is where the Catalyst Fund comes in. We have more flexibility on where funds are spent! Over the last five years community members have donated to our fund and we’ve added insulation, new windows, new doors to myriad homes. This work is ongoing thanks to a wonderful partnership - you, us and the HRC.
What’s the end result?
Healthier, cozier homes; lower energy bills; less energy wasted; and lower emissions and pollution in Missoula. We all feel good - the homeowners and the folks that supported this effort!
“To date, we has used the Catalyst Fund to improve insulation, doors & windows in 10 homes! Without Catalyst funds, these improvements would not have happened!”
Meet Glenda!
In early 2025, the HRC received a rather desperate call from Glenda, a client whose ancient, oil-heated furnace broke during a deep cold snap. She really wanted to replace this with an electric heat pump system and to get off that dirty oil! HRC had the funds to purchase and install the heat pump system, but not the needed electrical upgrade to support it. So we stepped in with a new breaker box and wiring.
From Glenda:
What perhaps thrills me the most about this energy-efficient heating-system upgrade is what it means for the future of this dwelling. Alberton is a tiny town with economically challenged citizens and oddly configured homes. To know that this house (originally built in the 1940s) is now part of a forward-leaning, human-centered program that invests in a better tomorrow, well, that is what heartens me most. This home has a good future, one that will better serve coming generations because of what we've done here.
So, thank you, and the Human Resource Council and its weatherization program (and the benefactors of such); And a particularly big shout out to Climate Smart and the other contributors to the electrical upgrade that helped this miracle happen!
