More than 60 percent of the homes examined this year after weatherization upgrades overseen by a Chula Vista nonprofit agency failed inspection, state records show.
This is the latest blow to the South Bay-based Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee, or MAAC, Project, which received millions in taxpayer money to caulk windows and doors and make other weatherproofing improvements.
Is there a way to make sure you are getting what you/we paid for? Once the work is done hire your own HERS rater and have them do a “test out.” A test out is when they test your homes envelope to make sure all the upgrades done are working properly and making your home more energy-efficient. Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your home’s energy efficient questions; their appraisers are BPI certified building analysts.
Records from the state’s Community Services and Development agency show that of the 34 apartments or homes spot-checked between Feb. 4 and Feb. 7 of this year, 20 were reported as receiving failing grades. In the previous inspection, in September 2012, 19 units were inspected and 14 failed.
Problems with ventilation in buildings were noted, as well as making sure that Department of Energy-approved climate zone materials were used for weatherization. About two-thirds of the failed inspections were because of poor record-keeping, a state official said.
The inspector noted on the reports that these issues “were being explained to crews … and should have no problems anymore.”
This is not the first time that MAAC has had problems with its weatherization program, which is in part funded by federal stimulus dollars under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
In a 2011 report examining federal stimulus spending in California, the state Office of the Inspector General found deficiencies in how the charity accounted for its home-weatherization projects. Grant money was being mixed in with regular nonprofit funds.
A letter from then-Office of Inspector General Laura Chick stated, “The financial and business operations of MAAC are severely deficient and need a complete and immediate overhaul.”
That same year, state auditors said the agency was high risk and temporarily suspended energy upgrades for low-income homes, demanding an overhaul of the program.
It was a whistle-blower complaint in 2010 that led to a series of audits reviewing the agency’s energy upgrade programs, which provide free furnaces, low-flow showerheads, windows, doors, caulking and weatherstripping in low-income areas.
MAAC has received $2.3 million in taxpayer money for weatherization over the past four years, according to state officials.
Read more at: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/20/tp-nonprofit-agencys-upgrades-on-homes-flagged/?print&page=all
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