Energy Efficiency and Green Building
When HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced the launch of the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities in February, 2010, he committed the agency to supporting the construction and rehabilitation of green affordable housing, recognizing that affordable homes should be located close to transportation, jobs, and schools and designed to maximize health and environmental benefits.
The Sustainable Housing Initiative, within the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, helps to coordinate intra- and inter-agency energy-efficiency and green building goals and initiatives for the Department. This office works with HUD program offices including Community Planning and Development, Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, Housing, Policy Development and Research, Public Affairs, and Public and Indian Housing. In this capacity, the Office assists in implementing HUD's energy-related annual performance goal including data tracking and presentation. These data are a component of HUDStat, the Secretary's quarterly initiative to drive improved performance on HUD priority goals.
Through a wide range of programs, HUD has facilitated the retrofit or construction of energy efficient healthy homes for hundreds of thousands of America's families. New and ongoing energy retrofit financing programs-for both single family homes and multi-family and public rental housing- will help thousands more. Moving forward, the Department will continue to make significant inroads in increasing the water and energy efficiency of HUD-assisted properties, greening this housing stock, and endeavors to sustain the progress achieved through significant and unprecedented HUD investments of Recovery Act funds in energy efficient, green building over the past two years.
HUD's Annual Performance Goal for Energy Efficiency and Green Building
The Office serves as program lead for HUD's Strategic Goal 4, "Build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination," as outlined in the HUD Strategic Plan FY2010-2015. The plan is composed of 5 strategic goals and 22 key outcome measures, referred to as Measures of Success.
Strategic Goal 4 is based on the premise that the nation's current housing, economic, health, and energy crises demand that the federal government and its local partners effectively coordinate policies related to community development, the environment, energy efficiency, transportation, housing, and disaster preparedness. Measure 13 focuses in on cost effective energy retrofits and energy efficient new construction as part of a joint initiative with the Department of Energy. Secretary Donovan leads quarterly reviews, known as HUDStat, to drive performance improvement on strategic goals, such as that described above. Data is used to understand problems to be solved, and a collaborative environment enables sharing of wisdom and experience to do so.
Aligning Energy Standards and Requirements
This office participates in efforts to standardize energy efficiency requirements both across HUD programs and across federal agencies. Much of HUD's portfolio of public and assisted housing was built before the advent of energy codes, and the adoption of building codes varies by state and jurisdiction. HUD programs have also adopted different energy standards. Through cooperation between HUD program offices, those standards are starting to come into alignment, so that clear guidance can be provided to HUD stakeholders on energy efficiency.
This office also participates in an ongoing effort to better align the operation of rental policy across the federal government, including rental policy related to energy efficiency standards, known as the Rental Policy Working Group. Composed of representatives from the White House Domestic Policy Council, the National Economic Council, the Office of Management and Budget, HUD, the Department of Agriculture, and the Treasury Department, this group seeks to find means of simplifying and improving the myriad regulations concerning rental policy for federally-assisted affordable housing.
Expanding the Availability of Financing for Home Energy Improvements
With a growing interest in financing energy improvements through Federal Housing Administration programs, as evidenced by growth in energy efficiency mortgages and loans insured by the FHA, HUD continues to expand the availability of financing for energy efficiency improvements. Products such as the Energy Efficient Mortgage, the 203(k) program, and the PowerSaver program allow borrowers to make energy efficiency improvements more easily.
Innovative Financing for Multifamily Housing
In addition to the Fannie Mae-FHA Green Refinance Plus program and the Mark-to-Market program, HUD is sponsoring innovation in energy efficiency improvement financing in multifamily housing through the Energy Innovation Fund. Grantees under this program are piloting solutions to the challenges of energy efficiency and renewable energy investment in existing affordable multifamily properties, leveraging private capital and additional public funding to do so, and conducting applied research to document and share scalable approaches to retrofitting these properties.
Specific energy efficiency activities undertaken by HUD include:
- Targeting Energy Performance Contracts and other incentives to reach smaller public housing authorities.
- Aligning energy standards and requirements across HUD programs and federal agencies.
- Implementing and expanding technical assistance and training for HUD grantees and partners.
- Awarding bonus points in the application process for some HUD discretionary programs, such as Choice Neighborhoods, to projects including energy efficiency and sustainable community development in their plans.
- Expanding the availability of financing for home energy improvements through FHA's Title I PowerSaver pilot program.
- Innovative financing initiatives for multifamily housing through the FHA-Fannie Mae Green Refinance Plus risk sharing program and competitive grant awards for innovative strategies for improving multifamily energy efficiency.
- Increasing HUD's ability to collect and analyze energy retrofit data in the Capital Fund Program through an expansion of the Recovery Act Management and Performance System.
Resources for HUD Partners
Community Planning and Development, Office of Environment and Energy
Provides information on HUD energy initiatives and how government-wide energy policies affect HUD programs.
HUD-DOE Weatherization Partnership
Streamlines the program requirements for public housing, assisted multifamily, or Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects to receive DOE weatherization funds.
HUD Strategic Plan
Provides the direction and focus of HUD's efforts to fulfill its core mission.
Sustainable Communities Resource Center
Provides a one-stop-shop for sustainable housing and planning resources.
Public and Indian Housing - Programs for Public Housing Authorities and Tribes
Energy Performance Contracting
EPCs provide financing for Public Housing Authorities to implement energy conservation measures through the operating subsidy and energy cost savings.
HOPE VI/Choice Neighborhoods
Choice Neighborhoods, the successor to HOPE VI, provides grants to transform distressed neighborhoods and federally-assisted public housing projects into viable and sustainable mixed-income communities.
Public Housing Capital Fund
Provides funds annually for the development, financing, and modernization of public housing developments.
Public Housing Environmental and Conservation Clearinghouse
Provides a one-stop-shop for public housing authorities to find resources related to energy and water conservation, hazardous materials, and operations and management best practices.
Physical Needs Assessment and Energy Audits
The Office of Public and Indian Housing is developing a physical needs assessment system, incorporating an energy audit, to achieve a number of building improvement and utility use goals for public housing developments.
Office of Native American Programs
The Office of Native American Programs provides decent, safe, affordable housing for lower-income Native American, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian families including through energy efficiency and green improvements to Native American affordable housing.
Office of Housing - Programs for Multifamily Property Owners
Energy Innovation Fund
Provided a total of $25 million in grants to be used for energy efficiency upgrades of multifamily properties.
Fannie Mae-FHA Green Refinance Plus
Allows for refinancing of existing affordable multifamily rental properties into new mortgages that include funds for energy- and water-saving improvements.
Mark-to-Market
Allows for the restructuring of FHA-insured or HUD-held mortgages to enable improvements and preservation of low-income multifamily assisted housing projects.
Office of Affordable Housing Preservation
Oversees the Mark-to-Market and Energy Innovation Fund as well as other multifamily property programs.
Green Retrofit Program
While the Recovery Act funding for the Green Retrofit Program runs out in Fiscal Year 2012, the Department will have financed nearly 20,000 energy and green retrofits under the program.
Office of Housing - Programs for Single-Family Property Owners
203(k) Rehabilitation Program
This purchase-rehab mortgage product provides a single loan to finance the acquisition and rehabilitation, including energy efficiency improvements, of a one- to four-family home.
Energy Efficient Mortgages
Enables single-family homebuyers and homeowners to finance the cost of adding energy efficient features as part of their FHA-insured mortgage.
PowerSaver Home Improvement Loans
PowerSaver provides FHA-insured loans up to $25,000 to make energy-efficiency improvements to a single-family home.
Outside Resources
