HUD AWARDS OVER $6 MILLION TO THREE LOCAL GROUPS TO TEST NEW ENERGY-SAVING APPROACHES IN OLDER MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS

NEW YORK - Three local organizations, based in Long Island, Manhattan, and Queens, were just awarded a total of $6,151,371 to test new and innovative ways to cut energy bills, and to finance energy efficiency upgrades in existing multi-family residential properties. Today's announcement by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is part of nearly $23 million awarded to a dozen organizations nationwide on the cutting edge of bringing energy-saving solutions to the housing market. (A summary of the awards is below.)

Heat Watch in Glen Head, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. in Manhattan, and the Community Environmental Center in Long Island City were selected to receive grant funding to test new approaches to implement and pay for these 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 nationwide in philanthropic, local and private capital.

"These grants are being awarded to a diverse collection of organizations that will help us find new ways to cut energy, save money and generate jobs!" said Acting Federal Housing Commissioner Carol Galante. "This is more than just 'going green,' it's about bringing real dollars and cents solutions to a sector of the market that is currently wasting money heating and cooling buildings, some of which were built more than a generation ago."

The goal of HUD's pilot program is to develop ideas and mechanisms that could potentially be replicated nationally, as well as help create industry standards in the home energy efficiency retrofit market. In addition, the pilot program will 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.

Heat Watch, LLC, Glen Head, New York
$356,300 (Applied Research Demonstration)

This activity will utilize advanced, internet-based technology to monitor and control boilers based on outdoor reset and apartment temperatures. The use of such controls helps boilers operate at maximum efficiency and helps ensure tenant comfort and safety. Less than 10 percent of buildings in New York City have these controls installed and the percentage for affordable housing is much lower.

Heat Watch in partnership with a large affordable housing management/ownership organization, Lemle and Wolfe, will use the grant funds to install Platinum Heat-Timer boiler controls, and monitor the panels twenty-four hours per day for three years. The primary types of properties to be served are multi-family housing complexes with a majority of tenants receiving Section 8 housing subsidies through the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) or the Housing Preservation Department. The properties are located in low-income neighborhoods in Bronx County, NY. Heat Watch estimates at least a 20 percent savings on fuel expenses resulting in greater cost effectiveness of affordable housing operation and a cleaner environment for low-income residents. Such a savings would provide the available funds necessary to the owner to install these controls in other buildings of theirs making this project replicable for property owners.

Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. New York, NY
$2,795,071 (Applied Research Demonstration)

Enterprise Community Partners will develop an initiative called the National Multifamily Energy Services Collaborative (NMESC), a collaborative service delivery model that can be replicated and taken to scale across the affordable housing field, which will enable community development corporations to participate in the energy-efficiency marketplace so that energy efficiency practices become an integral part of developing, preserving and managing affordable housing. The NMESC will offer affordable housing owners a comprehensive and standardized package of services to improve energy efficiency along a continuum of need, from improvements to operations and property maintenance practices, to complete retrofits of multifamily properties that will reduce energy consumption of at least 20 percent on average.

Community Environmental Center, Inc, Long Island City, New York
$3,000,000 (Applied Research Demonstration)

Community Environmental Centers, Inc. (CEC) and its partners will demonstrate the importance of innovative delivery methods and post-retrofit initiatives derived from their experience with the US Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). Beyond the implementation of cost-effective capital improvement measures (including renewable energy systems and novel in-unit energy monitoring and control devices where appropriate), CEC will pursue strategies targeted toward giving owners and tenants more awareness and control over the energy consumption behaviors; delivering efficiency and sustainability training and education to tenants and building operators; and providing post-construction monitoring and support for owners and operators.

CEC will invest in 950 affordable housing units including units serving developmentally disabled and substance-dependent low-income individuals in single-room occupancy (SRO) units through CEC's partnership with The Bridge New York.

CEC will demonstrate the importance of environmental education, post-retrofit strategies that safeguard the performance of energy investments, and the deployment and performance of novel energy saving measures at the building-wide and in-unit levels. Further, along with Cornell University, CEC expects to analyze and consolidate the results of this retrofit initiative to provide a template for other consortia of affordable housing stakeholders, environmental education providers, and WAP sub-grantees across the country to replicate the success of this project.

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