ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Raven Taylor has been renting the house she shares with her 11 and 3-year-old sons from the Beyond Housing program for two years.
Her house, which sits in the Overland/St. Ann area, was built in the 1940s, and is one of the older homes involved in Beyond Housing’s subsidized-rental program for low-income families.
Over the past year, Beyond Housing has partnered with Ameren Missouri to offer no-cost energy efficiency audits, updates, and refurbishment in Beyond Housing homes such as Taylor’s. Those upgrades, depending on individual renters’ needs, range from new thermostats and lightbulb replacements, to improved insulation, to new furnaces and air conditioning units.
In total, this energy efficiency upgrade program has served 400 families -- almost all in North County -- and completed about $1.1 million worth of work towards the goal of using less energy and lowering families’ electric bills. The program was implemented by environmental consulting company Resource Innovations
For Taylor, this program has been a blessing, as her electricity bills have gone down dramatically. Ameren’s contractors replaced her thermostat with a “smart thermostat” system she can operate and optimize from her phone, and replaced all lightbulbs in her home with energy-efficient ones.
“My favorite thing they did would be the lightbulbs, the energy-efficient light bulbs,” Taylor said. “I honestly don’t think I’ve changed a lightbulb yet.” And her combined electricity and air conditioning bills have remained below $200 per month, each month since the upgrades.
“A lot of people in the program, in Beyond Housing, have brand-new houses. I have an older house, because of the area I decided to stay in,” Taylor said. “So for them to come and upgrade everything...I loved it.”
Chris Krehmeyer, president of Beyond Housing, said that he was proud of the things they have been able to accomplish in homes like Taylor’s. The majority of the people living in these houses, he said, are single moms, living on modest incomes and trying to make ends meet. That meant that the program included some special considerations: like $100 gift-card incentives to help parents and children get out of the house for a few hours while the upgrades are taking place.
Marty Lyons, president of Ameren Missouri, said that these improvements can save families 20% on energy bills throughout the year. “We had a great opportunity during COVID--when it wasn’t always easy--to help residents with energy audits, energy-efficiency devices, and many other ways to help them become more energy efficient,” he said.
The houses, ultimately, are “meant to be a stepping stone” into financial stability for families, Krehmeyer said. So, keeping them running and keeping them efficient is more important than ever during COVID-19, a time in which Beyond Housing’s homes have had about a 97% tenant retention rate, according to Krehmeyer. And they’ve been providing rental assistance, so that “not one of our tenants is any further behind on rent today than they were in March 2020.”
“We have a reputation for our stick-to-it-iveness. We weather the storms and continue to be here for families,” Krehmeyer said.
Individuals who wish to apply for rental assistance, employment or education help, or other services through Beyond Housing can do so at beyondhousing.org or 1-314-533-0600.