As temperatures plummet and utility bills rise, an affordable housing advocate warns the cost of heating can be unmanageable for some Peoria residents.
Jane Genzel is director of the Peoria Opportunities Foundation, a non-profit working to build affordable rental units in the East Bluff.
Before starting the project, Genzel surveyed folks who use the food pantry at the East Bluff Community Center.
She said their average rent was between $400 and $600 a month -- but utilities could add an extra $150 to $350.
“That’s the affordability problem,” Genzel said. “It’s not necessarily in the rent in the rent that they pay — it’s in the utilities that they pay. And a lot of times, people don’t even realize that, until their first year in the winter, how bad it’s going to be. And then they’re stuck.”
Genzel attributes the high heating bills to outdated building practices and insufficient maintenance by building owners.
“The East Bluff has some of the oldest housing stock in the city, along with the South Side,” she said. “And so windows haven’t been replaced. Back when these houses were built, they didn’t put in as much insulation in because energy was cheap. Roofs haven’t necessarily been replaced.”
Peoria Opportunities Foundation is partnering with a consortium of organizations to build 30 affordable rental units — emphasizing energy efficiency — by summer of 2021.
This story will be updated.
