The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded nearly $23 million to a dozen organizations as part of a pilot program to bring energy-saving solutions to the multifamily housing market.
According to HUD, the grant recipients are affordable housing providers, technology firms, academic institutions and philanthropic organizations that will test new approaches to implement and to pay for energy-saving upgrades that may become the model for financing these ‘retrofits’ on a wider scale in the future. The federal grants are directly leveraging an additional $60 million in philanthropic, local and private capital.
HUD adds that the ideas and mechanisms developed in this endeavor could potentially be replicated nationally, as well as help create industry standards in the home energy efficiency retrofit market. In addition, the pilot program is designed to create public/private partnerships as a result of capital investments from private industries and create green jobs in construction, property management and technical analysis (e.g., energy audits and building commissioning), including opportunities for low income residents.
‘These energy-saving innovations will be driven by the private sector, who will help lead the way in bringing down the costs in our older multifamily housing stock,’ says Theodore Toon, associate deputy assistant secretary for HUD's office of affordable housing preservation. ‘HUD's new Energy Innovation Fund will become the model for others to follow in the national effort to bring a new generation of energy efficiency to older residential properties.’
(Photo courtesy USPS.)
