Reply #6: I lived in a county in Oregon that offers 0%, no term loans for that stuff

[Oregone]

It would stimulate the economy if most places offered retrofitting loans like this to lower income people. You never have to pay it back, unless you sell your home or die. To get them, you have to prove need, get quotes, and have the county involved in knowing the contractor is doing the actual work. Its really a good system. A friend of mine did it (and was an employee of the contracting company that got the bid, so he got paid to fix up his own home).