An investigation led by the Cowra Guardian has shed new light on a government scheme to upgrade more than thirty homes before the end of the year.

Energy improvements slated to make public, social, Aboriginal, and community housing properties more efficient were touted as part of a joint program, the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative, also known as SHEPI, worth more than $175m.

The SHEPI program, which runs for four years, aimed to provide relief to housing tenants living through freezing winters and sweltering summers, as well as provide renewable energy to keep heating or cooling operational.

Touted as a successful program, the Cowra Guardian uncovered that this year, just one home in the Cowra Shire had been upgraded; an air conditioning unit added to a social housing property.

At the time of publication, local MP Steph Cooke, told the Guardian “There are just under 300 Aboriginal and Community Housing and Community and Public Housing dwellings across the Cowra Shire. To hear that just one of those 295 homes has been upgraded and received an air conditioning unit is disappointing. Our communities deserve better.”

Following questions presented to state Parliament, and questions by the Cowra Guardian to Homes NSW and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, a Homes NSW spokesperson confirmed that a further 33 properties would be included in the SHEPI program across Cowra.

"To date one Homes NSW property in Cowra has had air conditioning installed," the spokesperson said, "A further 33 Aboriginal Community Housing properties owned by Cowra Local Aboriginal Land Council are undergoing energy efficiency upgrades under the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative (SHEPI). These include solar panels and ceiling fans."

The Homes NSW spokesperson also confirmed that the upgrades would be "completed by the end of December 2024," offering a welcome reprieve following Australia's hottest spring on record.

In the Bureau of Meteorology's Spring Summary, the BOM reported that spring 2024 was the hottest since observations began in 1910, sitting 2.08°C above the 1961–1990 averages. New South Wales' area-averaged mean temperature in October, the latest available record provided by the BOM,was 19.40 °C, 1.92 °C above the 1961–1990 average, the equal 10th-warmest on record for all Octobers since national observations began, reported as "very much above average" temperatures.

With two years left in the SHEPI program, community groups and housing providers can apply for the next round of the Community Housing Energy Performance Grant, in 2025. The most recent round of SHEPI applications closed in November, 2024.