Recently, HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs sent out information on HUD’s Energy and Water Benchmarking Service available for sites participating in HUD’s Multifamily project-based rental assistance programs. This free service provides participating owners with data on energy and water consumption at their sites.
The benchmarking service is free for owners of sites participating in HUD’s Multifamily Assisted Housing programs, including Section 8 project-based rental assistance, Section 202 Housing for Low-Income Elderly, Section 811 Housing for Low-Income Persons with Disabilities, and Section 236 Preservation programs. According to HUD, up to 9,000 properties may choose to participate in this service and, thus far, more than 700 properties have already signed up for the free service.
The benchmarking service is funded through President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which established HUD’s Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) with more than $800 million in grant funding and $4 billion in loan commitment authority. 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.
The data provided from the free benchmarking service helps owners in identifying opportunities for energy efficiency improvements that can benefit residents and promote green investments in individual properties or entire property portfolios. Owners that choose to participate in HUD’s benchmarking service can use the resulting data to apply for GRRP grants and loans under the Comprehensive cohort, as well as to comply with the general GRRP benchmarking requirement. This data can also help owners understand and qualify for other energy and water efficiency programs funded by IRA or through their local jurisdictions and utilities.
The benchmarking service:
By taking advantage of this service, HUD says owners will receive personalized support in assessing the efficiency of their buildings for up to four years. HUD’s contractor, Leidos, will support property owners and management by contacting utilities on their behalf to access the necessary energy and water use data and providing recommendations for cost and energy savings.
While there is no set deadline, sites are encouraged to opt in as soon as possible as there is limited funding availability and to take advantage of the full four years of the initiative. Owners and management agents who are interested in participating should email their interest and the property ID(s) for the properties they would like benchmarked to mfbenchmarking@hud.gov.
President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act was the largest climate investment in history and established the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) in 2022 to fund energy efficiency and resiliency improvements for HUD’s assisted rental portfolio. All of the investments under the GRRP will be made in affordable housing communities serving low-income families, directly benefiting HUD-assisted housing.