EMPORIA, Va. — Linda Morgan loves living at Trinity Woods, a subsidized senior residence in the tiny Virginia town where she grew up near the North Carolina border. But for three years, since the building's decades-old air conditioning system sputtered and died, she's had to set up an elaborate arrangement to stay cool during long, intense summers.
There's a portable air conditioner by the living room window, a swamp cooler in the bedroom that she keeps filled with water, and a fan in the kitchen. In her closet — soon to be brought out as the weather warms — three more fans are stashed from the top shelf to the floor.
"That's what I have to do to get any kind of coolness or comfort in here," she said. In the afternoons, especially, when the sun hits her window, "it's terribly hot."
The building's community room is even harder to cool. "Last year it was god-awful," said resident Deanna Moore. "We had bingo on Tuesday and Friday nights, [but] we couldn't even play."
Residents say family and friends don't visit because it's too hot. And the lack of central AC is especially hard on the many people with asthma or other conditions that affect their breathing, said Morgan, who's a retired nurse.
"We've sacrificed so much in our lives already," she said, "and to think that we cannot live in a comfortable, safe environment as we're older is just devastating to me."
That's why residents were thrilled when Trinity Woods was awarded $5.4 million a year ago for a new heating and cooling system, among other upgrades. It was part of a $1.4 billion Department of Housing and Urban Development program to make aging affordable housing across the country more energy efficient and climate resilient, including by installing solar panels on some buildings to bring down utility bills.
But the cost-cutting DOGE team overseen by billionaire Elon Musk "terminated" the program, according to an internal email seen by NPR. The move is part of a series of staffing cuts and funding freezes at the housing agency that critics said threatens to worsen the country's severe shortage of affordable housing.
HUD said the program continues but is under review.
"HUD helps to ensure Americans have access to fair and affordable housing," agency spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in a statement to NPR. "The previous administration's energy efficiency crusade diverted valuable resources, including funding, from the department's mission. The department is evaluating options to ensure rural, tribal and urban communities have the resources they need, which are not solar panels."
Trinity Woods and other groups with projects across the country say they've received no explanation from HUD about the change, and in fact no communication at all. But they're scrambling to both challenge the funding pause and find alternative financing to replace it.
"This is how government works at its best"
Just outside a back door at Trinity Woods is a large, pale green metal box, with rusty spots and cracked rubber insulation around one pipe. An engraving notes the year it was installed: 1993. It's a chiller, the backbone of the building's air conditioning system, and it sits silent and still.
"I have been pleading for at least three years to do something about this air conditioning," said Rev. Richard Bridgford, head of Norfolk Urban Outreach Ministry and president of the board of Trinity Woods. His organization worked with HUD to develop this senior housing complex and two others, one of which was also slated to receive upgrade funding.
Affordable housing budgets are tight, and providers can't just raise rents to cover a major overhaul. This type of subsidized housing also does not gain equity, which means it's not allowed to take on debt. "So you can't get any funds, any money to fix anything," Bridgford said.
The Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, passed by Congress as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, provided a way to get that money.
"This is an extremely efficient and effective use of government funds," said Julia Gordon, who served as assistant secretary for housing at HUD during the Biden administration.
Grants and loans were awarded across 42 states in every region of the country, she said, and would improve living conditions for more than 30,000 seniors, families and disabled residents.
Trinity Woods hoped to use its loan to generate matching funds for a $10 million overhaul. The goal was to upgrade not only its cooling, but also heating, as one of two 1993 boilers is also irreparably broken. That would let residents individually control their own thermostats instead of switching the entire building to heat or AC twice a year. Installing new windows and siding was also on the wish list.
"This is how government works at its best," Gordon said. "It uses government funds to help the parts of private industry that are trying to provide affordable housing in today's housing market. It helps them save so much more money."
Depending on the project, she said, these upgrades could save on the need to rebuild after a flood or hurricane, and could save on property insurance costs that have skyrocketed.
For Bridgford, who said he operates on a shoestring budget, savings would include moving away from propane fuel that is "just gobbling up our utilities." And reduced operating costs would let him provide more benefits for residents, he said, like better maintenance.
Advocate say it's crucial to preserve what affordable housing exists
In exchange for the retrofit funding, owners are required to keep their properties affordable for at least 20 more years. That can be crucial in a rural area like Emporia, where there are not many other options.
Before Sonya Urquhart moved into Trinity Woods two years ago, she said she "lived in my car for a minute" and stayed with friends at the restaurant where she still works. Despite the lack of AC, "I love this building. I would not want to leave," she said. "A lot of us can't leave."
Resident Lynn Mason said he also had nowhere else to go. He'd been a lift operator then hurt his back. He lived with an aunt and uncle for 20 years and helped take care of their home, but when they died the house went to their child. A judge "gave me 60 days, I had to go," Mason said. He was grateful to land here.
"The first tenet of any housing advocate is to preserve what we have," said Linda Couch, a senior vice president at the aging services nonprofit LeadingAge.
The organization has more than 50 members around the country that are awaiting funding from the HUD retrofit program that's been paused. The average household income of their residents is around $16,600 a year. "It is so financially irresponsible to let go of existing, deeply affordable units," she said.
Nationally, only about 1 in 3 seniors who qualify for subsidized housing are able to get it. And as the U.S. ages rapidly, a record number of seniors are burdened by high housing costs. Millions of older homes are also deteriorating, making the shortage of affordable places worse. Older Americans are a growing share of the homeless population.
The subsidized housing that is available often has years-long waiting lists. In 2023, when one Manhattan property opened up slots for a waitlist of 157, more than 10,000 people applied, Couch said. For many seniors, "it's no hope [of] getting in within their lifetime," she said.
On top of all this, advocates also worry about the Trump administration's plan to dramatically shrink HUD. In a recent letter to the agency, Couch's organization wrote, "Large, swift reductions in HUD staff will effectively make the administration of housing programs impossible."
For now, contractors who've already done advance work for Trinity Woods are applying for reimbursement and expect to get paid, said Gates Kellett, an expert on affordable housing development who helped the property apply for the retrofit program.
But only 22 properties are likely to get full funding for their projects, most of them small, said a HUD staffer with knowledge of the program's status. They asked NPR not to use their name because they're not authorized to speak with the media. The staffer said only 22 properties out of 270 nationwide closed their financing deals before the funding freeze.
Kellett is helping Trinity Woods search for different funding from HUD and elsewhere, but says it's highly competitive and may not provide nearly as much money.
Bridgford, the head of the Trinity Woods board, said that could mean simply "replacing what we have, which sounds so stupid" compared with the modern, efficient HVAC system they were planning. But he hopes something comes through, so residents can at least get relief from the heat and sleep better.
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