Now you can get free government energy assistance (read: money) to repair your home. Well, in the interest of accuracy, you probably can’t get it. But anyone who’s already receiving some other kind of government assistance probably can.
Yes, good ol’ Uncle Sam now offers free home repairs to low income families. In theory, the grants are money savers because those families often live in drafty homes and have high heating bills. In reality, we’re pretty sure it’s just another way to pound money down a rat hole and all the insulation in the world won’t plug that hole.
Here, according to eHow.com, are the five easy-peasy steps necessary to suck a few more bucks from the government teat through the Energy Assistance Program:
Instructions
1. The home repair program provides licensed contractors to seal attics, walls, floors, air ducts, cover water heaters and other basic maintenance. This program, is designed to save low income families, about $300 a year in energy costs.
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2. Check your state: Contact the department of Energy in your state, for further information on the Weatherization Assistance Program [Energy Assistance] or home repair grants in your area.
3. Qualifications: To be eligible for a home repair grant or help to winterized your home, your income must be below 125% to 150%. Some states will vary in the income qualifications.
4. The application: The application process is very simple. You must provide proof of income, unemployment, ownership or renting, to be considered for the program.
5. Acceptance: Once you have been approved for a home repair grant, local agencies will come to your home to be assess possible heat loss, carbon monoxide leaks and a plan of action will be designed to weatherize your home.
Hey, here’s an idea. Maybe you can call all the free government contractors on your free government cell phone while you’re driving around in your free government car.
And that, friends, is what we call the socialist circle of life.
Source: ehow.com
This post was last modified on January 31, 2021
View Comments (28)
I'm a white American male, with a full-time job, and trying to support myself to the best of my ability, and do not draw any sort of government aid, despite the fact I could use it, severely. I choose weekly between food and gas for the vehicle I'm driving, and try to pay off back bills as I can.
I clearly do not qualify for this program, as I am actually doing something to better myself.
Live within your means and you will never have a problem with "back bills". The only way people get behind is to let their wants get in front of their needs. You do that you will never have to worry about "aid" from anyone.
I was not a very wise youth, let's leave it at that. I am correcting my mistakes however.
How do you think I got so smart? hehehe. All of us do stupid things when we are young. Most of us grow up, move on, take care of our business.
The few that don't are the people that seem to think the rest of us owe them a life and living. You hang in there, take care of your business, and you will be ok in the long run. You might not be able to "keep up with the Jones's" but who cares? Not me. Nor will anyone else who was brought up in a hard life and made their own way.
I like to think of those people as Democrats.
Lol..good reply! When I was young I was a democrat, believing in peace, love your neighbor, all that crap. Drugs, sex and rock 'n' roll baby! I am an old hippie and proud of it!
What changed my way of thinking was serving our country, marriage and children. Fighting in some stupid war, 40 years ago or today, changes how you look at things in life. Getting married and holding your child, all of them, for the first time changes your way of thinking. I had to protect my own, now I have my own to protect.
You understand what I am saying here? We all have wonderfull, grand ideas of how to help and save our fellow man when we are young. After life jumps up and slaps the shit out of you, you become one of two kinds of people. Like most of us, you get up, slap life back and make your own way. Or, you lay down like a puppy that got kicked, pissing on yourself, whining about how bad life has treated you.
How you choose to live your life is up to you, all I, or anyone else can do, is tell you what we think. All we can do is hope that sharing our experiences in life will help you stand up and do what is right.
Incredibly commendable! If only everyone who had gotten themselves in trouble had your fortitude!
I live in post Jennifer Granholm Michigan, and we are in Deeep shit over here.
So I know lots of people struggling to feed them selfs, thats no exaggeration ( the only people in Michigan doing well are union- of course)
Anyway, of all the people I know who are victims of Jenny and "change" not one qualifies for assistance ( Beyond bridge cards).
The only reasonable conclusion I can come up with is, they are all white and Conservative.
You left out the other segment of people doing well in Michigan, gooberment employees. How many of them do you see driving around in 15 year old clunkers or living in a trailer house because that is all they can afford.
Oh yes, that lucky 15%, or its it 25%? Lol. The only thing I know is the only way to get ahead is to enlist and leave, or just...leave. But there is a huge opening for conservatives to move here and begin to influence all local governments.....because this is a great state, weather wise, if you dont mind the snow, but the liberals are choking its people by regulating every aspect of life, and driving away any hope for a future economy.
We are torn right now, move for a better life elsewhere, or stay close to family? We'll see.
We have the same problem in New Mexico, liberal politics has driven our economy into the ditch. I am about ready to let the Kalifornians and yankees from back east have the state and move.
Maybe I'll reverse the trend and move to your state! Does it ever get warm enough to ride? I'm not going anywhere if I have to keep my Harley in the garage most of the time. Remember now, I live in the southwest and can ride at least 10 months out of the year! I gotta be able to compare time in garage, time out of garage.
Unfortunatly its only really warm for three months, but you might get as much as 6 months total to ride before the snow flies.
Maybe we should just pack up and move to Arizona :)
Whenever I hear Michigan, I think Detroit (lazy of me, I know, but it's the best known city in Michigan...lol)
Anyways, you may have already seen this, but I got a kick out of it the first time I saw it, and haven't watched it in a while.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hhJ_49leBw
LOL! That was great! Thank you, GruffGadfly :) I actually have never seen this. I reposted it to my fb, hopefully my friends will learn something about Obama.
I read your comment and I must be honest, I said "Yes! A fellow Michigander, you know exactly what I am referring too." I am convinced that no state is quite like ours in instituting a double standard reguarding welfare.
But it is also the most beautiful place to live. I do love it in summertime :) And winter, i guess....
I lived over by Benton Harbor -- I guess I lived in the wrong area, then...
Actually, yes, it *is* a beautiful state -- as long as the nuts are not in charge.
"t *is* a beautiful state — as long as the nuts are not in charge."
Sounds like California. Only the nuts ARE in charge, so both places tend to lose a bit of their charm.
I wish we had more conservatives and less liberals.
I grew up right outside Detroit (15 Mile..)
I was 10 in 1980 when my Dad got us out and he left auto industry for good. He knew what was coming.
I miss the landscape a lot
I didnt know there was much landscape outside of Detriot? LOL!
Seriously tho, downstate Detroit and etc are a completely different world than up north. And the U.P. is entirely different than the northen L.P. Almost every election we blame the people down south for our state swinging blue.
Seriously we had woods and a creek in this huge field..then across the main road was some industrial zone. We'd go to this beach at Bald Mtn or drive down to Cedar Point in Ohio. Good times for us kids
The true genius of our social..communist overlords is that each house that saves 'up to' $300 per year will only cost Obama's stash $25,000. Thus giving a payback of 83 years.
This is why these people are not in business or for that matter in any form of reality.
Whadda ya bet that everyone involved will belong to a union?
Whadda ya bet that not a single one that applies belongs to the International Union of Operating Engineers? That's the union I belong to, for 34 years now. I work hard at every one of my jobs, get paid well, and don't go looking for government handouts.
I DO take offense at this one.
I am 44 years old and have been disabled after 20 years of driving trucks coast to coast, day in and day out, often not coming in for 6-8 weeks at a time. I busted my ass and now I need help and after a 3 year long fight, I am getting it. I am not driving a free car, in fact my old 87 Diesel pickup won't even start now to get me to the store. I live (survive, just barely) on $694 a month. I get $118 a month in food stamps to eat on. And I won;t be calling Weatherization this year, even though I have NO furnace at all, NO Central air, NO counters or cabinets, etc because guess what? I can't afford a phone and no I don't get a free one.
But I can tell you one thing: They DID help me once, up in Kansas when we were having a BRUTAL winter. I had a little girl to try and keep warm and I was very grateful for the windows they replaced, the new furnace they put in, the drafts and holes they fixed. We all complain that the government wastes money on people and things that they should not be, yet when they do something good, for the right people, you want to post garbage like this?
I don't get it, I really don't. And I was a supporter of this website due to their opposition to The Westboro Baptist Church. How can someone be so moral in one regard and so closed minded in yet another? I agree that government wasting is running rampant, as is people with scams. However a lot of people who truly need the help, get it. I being one of them, and I am grateful for it.
"How can someone be so moral in one regard and so closed minded in yet another?"
I have wondered that a few times before too, but if you read through alot of the comments, the people here are not totally opposed to helping the impovershed and poor/disabled. What my conclusion has been is that the flood of people taking advantage of programs and people who are here illegally recieving alot of benefits is the real problem.
Which i am oppsed too whole heartedly. Example being a woman who has two children by two separte fathers, reciveing support from one father while living with the other's father while recieving food stamps and soc. sec. who is more qualified for a mortgage than a man who has a wife and two children to support who do not recieve benefits because he makes too much money, but is still below the national poverty adverage and does not qualify for a mortgage because he does not have enough credit because he is debt free. (To clarify, the woman is staying single because she recieves better benefits than if she married, and is able to be a stay at home mother because the boyfriend works. The man, whos wife stays home as well, works up to 60-80 hrs weekly at minium wage but remains debt free by buying cheap and careful management)
To me it sometimes it seems like the system works against lot of people, and works for others.
Hi Olivia, how you doing today. As usual, you are so full of crap it's running out your mouth.
I have bounced around a day or two in a truck. 350 or 400 Cummins with a 4x4 behind it. A couple of 425 Cats with a 5x4 and a walking stick hauling heavy equipment. In other words, don't try to bullshit me about truck driving or how much money truck drivers make.
I know quite a few elderly folks in my little community that have applied for this "energy assistance" help and, as old Gomer would say, surprise, surprise, surprise! They do not give anyone, nor install, new furnaces! The contractor does not install windows, unless it is a single broken pane, they install a kit around your windows that holds plastic sheeting to help keep the draft out. The contractor will not patch holes in the wall, unless you want to pay a little "extra fee", cash only please. They unroll a few rolls of insulation in your attic and wrap your hot water heater with a government approved hot water heater blanket and that is about it.
What does it cost us taxpayers for this little bit of insulation, a pane of glass and some plastic sheets? About $1500 per home for $100 bucks worth of material and an hour of labor. Did I forget to mention that I know a couple of contractors that have taken advantage of this program? It's a cash cow that keep on giving easy money.
Let me see, how do I finish this up? You don't have heat, air conditioning or kitchen cabinets? Sounds like you are living in an abandoned shack, or a dumpster. Your rent has to be pretty cheap so why don't you fix your non-existant pickup to drive to the library so you can use the computer to post your silliness here. You do go to the library, or a friends dumster, to get on the internet don't you?
The Sheeple likes their governement.
Indeed, every winter, it comes and shaves them.
When that happen, they find the weather to be too cold...
... and it is when the governement that gives them sweaters!