S. 127 — Whole-Home Repairs Act of 2025

This section defines 12 terms used in the Act, including “affordable unit” (i.e., a unit with rental payment affordable to a tenant at or below 80% of area median income); “assisted unit” (i.e., a unit that undergoes repair or rehabilitation through a whole-home repairs program); “eligible homeowner” (i.e., a homeowner with household income not more than 80% of area median income, 200% of federal poverty guidelines, or meeting other federal low-income criteria, who occupies the home as principal residence); “eligible landlord” (i.e., an individual owning fewer than 10 residential rental properties with a majority of affordable units and not more than 50 total units); “forgivable loan” (i.e., a loan to an eligible landlord secured by a lien and forgivable after 3 years if compliance is maintained); “implementing organization” (i.e., a unit of general local government, State, or qualified nonprofit administering the program); “qualified nonprofit” (i.e., a nonprofit with experience in specified federal housing, weatherization, lead remediation, or home-repair programs); and “whole-home repairs” (i.e., modifications to address accessibility for individuals with disabilities and older adults).

This section establishes a pilot program, to be implemented by the Secretary not later than one year after enactment, under which the Secretary provides grants to implementing organizations to administer whole-home repairs for eligible homeowners (via grants up to a maximum per unit reflecting local costs) and eligible landlords (via forgivable loans up to a maximum per unit, public/common area, or structural element reflecting local costs). Grantees must coordinate with other federal, state, and local repair programs; ensure repair completion or prorated repayment of funds; return unused balances; limit workforce training to 10% of funds; limit administrative costs to 10%; and comply with federal accessibility standards, including section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794) (i.e., prohibiting disability discrimination in federally assisted programs). For landlord loans, grantees must require compliance with section 504; adherence to tenant-based rental assistance rules if applicable; or, if not, a three-year affordability period including lease extensions or unit preservation, state/local code compliance, no serious renter protection violations in the prior 10 years, and annual rent increases capped at 5% of base rent or inflation (whichever lower). Grantee applications must detail geographic scope, subrecipient selection, program coordination, housing needs data, application processing, and other capacity information; the Secretary must consider such factors in awarding grants (with text incomplete on full considerations).