Madison non-profit seeks sponsors for new water heater replacement program

Amid one of the most brutally cold winters in recent history, Madison-based Project Home is seeking additional community sponsors to help it fund an emergency water heater replacement program for low-income families in Dane and Green counties.

The new program, which uses an on-staff plumber to get installations done quickly, has completed two replacement jobs already this year, but that barely begins to address the need, group spokesman Jason Hafeman said. Members hope to install 20 water heaters this year, but only have funding for another eight, in part through current sponsors Madison Gas and Electric Foundation and The Evjue Foundation, Inc.

Best known for its Hammer with a Heart program, which helps low-to-moderate income homeowners make repairs such as new roofs and windows, Project Home decided to branch out into big-ticket water heater replacements because staff get "numerous calls" for help every year from low-income people with no hot water. Hafeman said no government program covers this emergency need, defined as a home being completely without hot water due to a non-functioning water heater, not one that's merely old or inefficient.

"It has to be not working, not just leaking," he said.

Water heaters that put the health and safety of residents at risk because they are no longer venting properly also qualify under the program, he said.

Hafeman called the lack of a functioning water heater a "huge safety concern," especially for the physically disabled and elderly, whose only alternative may be to carry pots of boiling hot water to fill their tubs.

Project Home is a nonprofit organization aimed at improving the quality and affordability of housing for low- to moderate-income residents of Dane and Green counties. The group helps residents save money and energy through its weatherization and home repair programs, typically at 7 to 10 homes each spring.

Typical projects in the annual Hammer with a Heart program include roof repairs and the installation of new windows, doors, siding and wheel-chair ramps for accessibility. The group also has replaced furnaces and "a few water heaters" over the years, Haveman said, but the increasing need for emergency water heater replacements now requires a more systemic solution.

For more information, contact Hafeman at 608-246-3737, Ext. 2104 or via email at outreach@projecthomewi.org.

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Madison non-profit seeks sponsors for new water heater replacement program