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$3M HUD Grant Brings Energy Innovation to Affordable Housing in Philadelphia!

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$3M HUD Grant Brings Energy Innovation to Affordable Housing in Philadelphia!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012

CPM has announced the receipt of a $3 Million HUD Energy Innovation Grant that will bring energy efficiency to affordable housing in Philadelphia. This grant is one of the two largest made across the country.

We celebrated this morning at City Hall with Katherine Gajewski, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability; Jane Vincent, HUD’s Regional Administrator for the Mid-Atlantic region; Dr. Donald Schwarz, Health Commissioner and Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity for the City of Philadelphia; Cynthia Gardstein, Senior Vice President of Steven Winter Associates; Chris Herrmann, Director of Syndication at Enterprise Community Investment, Inc., and Holly Glauser, Director of Development at Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.

This project will:

Preserve affordable housing for 166 of Philadelphia’s most vulnerable households
Cut energy consumption and utility costs in multi-family affordable housing by 20%
Include a research component to determine if real-time energy display devices can help tenants lower energy consumption
Test a new model for financing a large-scale rehabilitation project

Major energy efficiency upgrades will be made to 166 units of the 1260-owned portfolio in neighborhoods all across Philadelphia. In addition to better insulation and new HVAC systems, half of the 166 units will be equipped with energy monitoring devices. Designed to give real-time information to the tenants about their energy usage, these devices are part of a research project to determine if such technology can help lower energy consumption, particularly amongst special needs tenants.

The goal is to cut energy consumption by 20 percent, which adds up to a lot of extra “income” for these very low income households. In fact, the units in this project primarily serve individuals and families with behavioral health challenges and other special needs - a subgroup that has not yet been studied in this regard.

Jane Vincent, HUD regional administrator, says the energy monitoring is the most vital part of the plan. “We are hoping that this will show if you can monitor your energy use you might say, ‘Let me turn off that light ... or turn the heat down a degree or two,’” Vincent said. Hear her interview with WHYY Newsworks.

Funding. In addition to the HUD Energy Innovation Grant, this project will be funded through 4% low income housing tax credit and tax-exempt bond financing, which will ensure that the units are not only energy efficient, but also remain affordable for at least 30 years into the future.
Click here for the Press release.

Labels: green buildings, HUD Energy Innovation Fund, LIHTC, preservation, rehabilitation

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