Home renovation funding falls well short of demand

Only a small fraction of the low-income families who applied to the P.E.I. government for help with home repairs this year will get any funding.

For five days this past June, the Department of Community Services accepted applications for the 2014 P.E.I. Home Renovation Program, which provides up to $12,000 to help with repairs. It received 571 applications, but with just $1.3 million in the budget, only about 75 people will receive any money.

Independent MLA Olive Crane told CBC News some who need the program the most were shut out because the forgivable loans are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. While the application window was five days, Crane says the money was all gone minutes after government began accepting forms at Access PEI sites across the province.

"I really believe that it's a good program; it needs more money," said Crane.

"I'd like to see perhaps a points system. So based on a person's income, the value of their home demonstrating more need, they would be able to receive the funds ahead of somebody else that their home value and equity in their own home could be a source of dollars to help repair."

There is an income threshold to qualify for the program that varies based on the size of the family applying, and a home's assessed value can't be more than $175,000.

Some of the funding is earmarked for programs that provide loans to people with disabilities and to low-income households that need to perform emergency home repairs. Government says inspections for those programs are ongoing and so it's not certain how many of those applicants will qualify.

For mobile device users: Should amendments be made to P.E.I.'s program for helping people with low incomes to fix up their homes?