On April 23, 2021, ProPublica reported in part: "Thomas is one of about 3,000 Missouri homeowners who have borrowed money through a program known as Property Assessed Clean Energy, which was touted by then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2009 as a way to help lift the country out of the Great Recession while lowering consumers’ utility bills and fighting climate change. Through the program, local governments could borrow money at low rates and make it available to borrowers for energy-saving home improvements, allowing them to pay it back in their property taxes.

But under the management of private companies, PACE programs in Missouri have charged high interest rates over terms of up to 20 years, using the government’s taxing power to collect loan payments through tax bills and enforce debts through liens. By marketing their programs to people who need urgent repairs but have few options for credit, they have disproportionately burdened some of the state’s most vulnerable homeowners, a ProPublica investigation has found."