Demand, lack of contractors foil home repair program

In 2022, state lawmakers agreed to use $125 million in federal pandemic aid to create the Whole-Home Repairs Program, the largest state investment of its kind in years. 

The program offers income-eligible homeowners grants to address problems like leaking roofs, unsafe electrical wiring, and broken furnaces.

As counties have begun taking applications, overwhelming demand has left hundreds of people unable to get help, interviews with more than a dozen program administrators show.

Also this week, Spotlight PA's Stephen Caruso and Katie Meyer report on Gov. Josh Shapiro's first year. They found he struggled at times to advance priorities through Harrisburg’s ideologically divided legislature. 

Finally, Pennsylvania’s budget impasse ended Wednesday after the divided state legislature agreed to send millions of dollars to community colleges and libraries, fund public legal defense, and create a student teacher stipend.

"I am fully confident that we will have a productive and meaningful spring 2024 session, even as we work through some of these scheduling obstacles."

—State House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) on a planned break from voting while repairs are made to the chamber’s ceiling.

Despite ethics concerns, Shapiro continues to accept tickets from group that gets state money

Next year, Gov. Josh Shapiro plans to continue receiving perks like tickets to sporting events using a nonprofit that contracts with the state. 

The nonprofit in question is Team Pennsylvania, a public-private partnership that says it works to improve the commonwealth’s “competitiveness and economic prosperity.” This year it paid for tickets and lodgings for Shapiro, a Democrat, to attend the Super Bowl in Arizona, and funded his tickets to a Philadelphia Phillies playoff game and a Penn State football game. 

One expert told Spotlight PA earlier this year that this could conflict with Shapiro’s gift ban, which bars executive branch employees from accepting goods or services, like tickets, from any “person or entity” that “has financial relations with the Commonwealth.” 

Team PA receives money from the commonwealth. Early this year, for instance, the Shapiro administration awarded the group a $100,000 contract to study hydrogen technology.  

Shapiro’s decision to tap Team PA for tickets isn’t unique. The group has existed since 1997, and has paid for expensive trips and outings for multiple Pennsylvania governors. The Shapiro administration has made clear that it doesn’t oppose that relationship. 

“It’s a really important collaboration,” administration spokesperson Manuel Bonder said, noting Team PA’s long history. “[It’s] certainly one that we expect will continue so that the governor can partake in moments and opportunities to promote Pennsylvania at no cost to taxpayers.” 

Critics argue the relationship is problematic. 

Michael Pollack, who heads the good-government group March on Harrisburg and frequently lobbies for increased transparency in government, including a gift ban, said he thought Shapiro’s decision to accept tickets from Team PA was “truly absurd.”

He added that Shapiro’s behavior isn’t particularly egregious for Harrisburg, which is notorious for its lax rules around gifts and campaign finance. But Pollack said he expected Shapiro to be more cautious, noting that it’s well known that the governor has higher political ambitions. 

Pollack predicted these issues will likely come up again. Legislation that would restrict gifts is perennial in Harrisburg and often gets buried by lawmakers. 

“He should prioritize issues that earn the trust of the people of Pennsylvania,” Pollack said. 

The administration’s use of Team PA for event tickets isn’t the only transparency-related practice that has raised eyebrows. 

Shapiro had his gubernatorial transition team sign unusually strict nondisclosure agreements and declined to publicize the private donors who funded his inaugural festivities — a departure from at least two immediate predecessors. He also decided to keep his daily schedule secret and relaxed former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s (notoriously strict) gift ban. 

Plus, the administration quietly settled a sexual harassment complaint against Mike Vereb, a top staffer and one of Shapiro’s oldest political allies. Spotlight PA learned of the settlement after Vereb’s abrupt resignation in September, and a public records request revealed that it had cost the commonwealth nearly $300,000 and included a confidentiality clause that barred both sides from discussing the allegations. 

Asked about these decisions, from Shapiro’s private schedule to the settlement, Bonder said the issue was being “frankly, somewhat raised in bad faith.”

“We are responsive. We're accessible,” he said. “He does events at a very high pace all across Pennsylvania and answers questions from any media that shows up.”

Ed Rendell, who served as Pennsylvania governor from 2003 to 2011 and has known Shapiro for decades, took a more nuanced view of transparency questions.

The Democrat also sometimes took advantage of the commonwealth’s lax gift laws during his tenure. But while he sees these as “inside baseball” issues that constituents don’t think about much, Rendell said he doesn’t dismiss them. 

Optics on things like gifts are important, he noted, and Shapiro “has got to understand the appearance of it.”

“He’ll learn,” Rendell said. —Stephen Caruso and Katie Meyer, Spotlight PA

2024 VISION:

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» INQUIRER: With an interim president, what comes next for Penn?

» NYTIMES: Inside the chaotic struggle for power at Penn 

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