HUD Delivers First Deal to Promote Energy Efficiency and Climate Resiliency for Massachusetts Families

HUD No. 24-100 HUD Public Affairs (202) 708-0685

FOR RELEASE Friday May 3, 2024

QUINCY- Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Multifamily Housing Programs, announced it completed a $750,000 grant transaction under the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) with Wollaston Lutheran Church. Grant funds will be used to finance energy efficiency and climate resilience renovations of the Bauer House apartment community in Quincy, Massachusetts. This project represents the first instance of the incorporation of a GRRP award into a construction project to increase the energy efficiency and climate resilience of the property.

"Today's news is a milestone of HUD's Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, marking the closure of our first grant transaction supporting climate resiliency and restoration projects in affordable housing," said HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman. "This Administration is investing to help communities like Bauer House all across the country, ensuring they have access to sustainable, affordable housing that is safe for all residents."

Bauer House is a 75-unit, four-story building serving very low-income seniors. HUD provides rental assistance via the Section 202 Supportive Housing for Low-Income Elderly program to 74 of the households at the property. Originally constructed in 1996, the property is undergoing rehabilitation to upgrade the HVAC system and improve air quality for residents. Wollaston Lutheran Church will use HUD's GRRP funding to support the cost of replacing the existing natural gas heating and cooling system with an efficient heat pump system.

"We are pleased to complete this Green and Resilient Retrofit Program funding transaction with Wollaston Lutheran Church to help upgrade the property, reduce carbon emissions, and make residents' homes safer and more energy efficient," said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs Ethan Handelman. "Funding this work at Bauer and similar properties throughout the country to improve the lives of residents is exactly what the program was designed to do."

About GRRP
Funded under the Inflation Reduction Act, GRRP provides funding for direct loans and grants to make improvements to HUD-subsidized properties serving very low-income families, seniors, and persons with disabilities. Properties were selected through three distinct funding opportunities designed to meet the diverse needs of properties across the country. Funding can be used to improve energy or water efficiency, enhance indoor air quality, install zero-emission electricity generation and energy storage equipment, acquire low-emission building materials, implement building electrification strategies, or address and improve climate resilience. The program seeks to amplify recent technological advancements in energy and water efficiency and to bring a new focus on preparing for climate hazards by reducing residents' and properties' exposure to hazards and by protecting life, livability, and property when disaster strikes.

HUD has offered funding through three GRRP award types targeting HUD-subsidized affordable housing:

• Elements awards provide modest funding for property owners to incorporate proven and impactful climate resilience and carbon reduction measures to the construction scopes of an in-progress recapitalization transactions. Property owners use the funds to add green or resilient elements to existing scopes of property rehabilitation.
• Leading Edge awards provide funding for property owners to meet ambitious carbon reduction, renewable energy generation, and resilience goals without requiring extensive technical assistance from HUD.
• Comprehensive awards provide funding for properties with the highest need for climate resilience and energy efficiency upgrades to undertake a deep retrofit, focused on innovative energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions reductions, green and healthy housing measures, renewable energy generation, and climate resilience investments. Comprehensive Awards are designed for the widest range of properties and are accompanied by direct support from HUD to achieve the retrofit.

FACT SHEET: Green and Resilient Retrofit Program Progress to Date

• GRRP is the first HUD program to simultaneously invest in energy efficiency, renewable energy generation, climate resilience, and low-embodied-carbon materials in HUD-assisted multifamily housing.
• As of March 28, 2024, HUD has awarded $544.4 million in GRRP funding to improve 109 properties in 38 states and the District of Columbia. These GRRP investments will improve over 12,600 rental homes.
• GRRP projects range from targeted upgrades supplementing in-progress recapitalization efforts to major net-zero renovations.
• More than 700 properties have also signed up for HUD's free energy and water consumption benchmarking service, also funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. With benchmarking, HUD-assisted housing property owners can better understand the energy and water consumption at their properties to assess potential upgrades.
• In addition to ensuring that participating properties undergo deep retrofit work to increase their efficiency, make them greener and more resilient to climate hazards, it will also serve to preserve these units as affordable housing long-term.

More program information is available on the GRRP Website.