Affordable housing faces building performance standards challenges, report says – GWC Mag

Affordable housing owners need more financial and technical assistance than they are currently getting to comply with building performance standards, according to a report released Jan. 17 by the nonprofit research organization American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. 

These policies, which require buildings to reduce by set dates their energy use or greenhouse gas emissions, or both, are increasingly being adopted by local and state governments to shrink their carbon footprint, reduce energy costs and drive down peak electricity demand. 

Applying such policies to affordable housing, however, has presented challenges. While building performance standards may benefit affordable housing residents in the form of lower utility bills and better air quality, they could also drive up rents as building owners seek to recoup their investments in improving the housing, the report highlights. 

A number of governments are trying to support the affordable housing sector through measures such as stakeholder engagement, extended deadlines for compliance and limits on the amount of retrofit costs that can be passed on to tenants, the report says. 

To understand the challenges that remain, the authors interviewed affordable housing providers, community-based organizations and nongovernmental organizations in cities with such policies. Discussing Denver’s policy, the nonprofit Energy Outreach Colorado noted that a surprising number of affordable housing property owners are unaware of the policy.

The nonprofit also cited concern about large fines for noncompliance. These fines “could be severely damaging to unsubsidized affordable housing properties and force them to raise rents, especially if it was levied despite investments that property owners made to attempt to comply with the policy,” the report says. 

The report suggests that cities and states could consider fine structures that don’t have significant financial impacts on affordable housing buildings or could create an alternate fine structure that accounts for investments made in an attempt to comply with the standards. 

In Boston, the nonprofit Planning Office for Urban Affairs, which has a portfolio of affordable housing properties, cited technical challenges in complying with standards. One of its older properties would require a complete replacement of the hot-water system in order to install heat pumps, for example.

The report concludes that jurisdictions that have or are considering building performance standards should increase financial and technical assistance for affordable housing, which could mean, for example, the creation of a one-stop shop for access to funding sources and contractors. The report also recommends that jurisdictions spread awareness of policies and potentially compensate participants for their time, as well as engage with affected groups before drafting legislation.

The report adds that additional research on this subject “will be especially important after different BPS policies have hit their first compliance deadlines, in order to shine greater light on the real-world effects of [building performance standards] on affordable housing.”