Green Labor Journal - Working for a Substainable Future

Bright Spots Beyond Capitol Hill's Partisan Divide

Home Star is projected to create 168,000 jobs and save homeowners $9.4 billion in energy costs over 10 years

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We desperately need to overhaul our health care system. There is no doubt about that.

But Congress is also taking on another issue that is as important to the well being of our communities: creating jobs.

And unlike health care reform, which is being plagued by divisive politicking as I write this, some concrete solutions to unemployment can garner support from both parties.

There are some bright spots shining through the partisan funk on Capitol Hill.

The Congressional Black Caucus recently held a forum on the chronically unemployed. The CBC's efforts to represent the needs of the most vulnerable communities - the poor and communities of color - are desperately needed in the Washington debate over jobs legislation.

Unemployment for African-American workers has risen to 15.8 percent, up from 9 percent in December 2007. Youth, women, and Latinos are also particularly hard-hit by the economic recession. The Congressional Black Caucus's dedication to finding solutions for the chronically unemployed is critical to creating lasting and equitable prosperity for America's communities.  I was honored to testify at the Hearing, where I voiced my support for a program that can effectively and quickly create jobs for our communities: Home Star.

This fast-acting program will spur job growth, hiring, consumer saving on utility bills, and home improvements.  And with the Senate and House of Representatives also holding hearings on Home Star, it is beginning to gain traction on Capitol Hill.

Home Star's popularity makes sense, because it is a win, win, win for workers, consumers, and the environment.

Home Star provides up to $8,000 in rebates
This is how it works. The Home Star program provides homeowners with rebates of up to $8,000 in order to pay for energy-saving home improvements (also known as "energy-efficiency retrofits"). Through these improvements, consumers use the same amount of heating, cooling, lighting, appliances, etc. - they just burn less energy doing it. That means consumers save money on their energy bills as they create the demand for workers to do the upgrades.

Home Star rebates will spark hiring in construction, a sector that has been particularly hard hit by unemployment, as well as manufacturing and construction retail.

All in all, Home Star is projected to create 168,000 jobs, improve 3.3 million homes, and save homeowners $9.4 billion in energy costs over 10 years. And the energy saved through Home Star will replace the need for 4 large, polluting power plants, making it a win for the environment as well.

Beyond these basics, there are a couple additional reasons Home Star makes for smart job-creation policy. The program picks up where the Recovery Act will leave off, creating jobs for weatherization workers as Recovery funds ramp down.

And as I testified at the Congressional Black Caucus hearing, built-in incentives for contractors will ensure that low-income workers being trained now will have jobs when their training is complete; and Home Star's quality assurance provisions promote opportunities for minority contractors.

Home Star is a promising step in the right direction. It advances solutions to our jobs and environmental crises that make sense for everyone.

And it gives us reason to believe Congress may soon enact real solutions that create economic opportunity for America's communities.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins is the Chief Executive Officer of Green For All, a national organization dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through a clean-energy economy. Green For All works in collaboration with the business, government, labor, and grassroots communities to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in green industry – all while holding the most vulnerable people at the center of its agenda.  (http://www.greenforall.org)