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Building resilience in our community

Accessing federal financing through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund+

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Introduce self and your organization.

Thanks for talking with me.

I want to give a brief introduction to what we are doing and why we are doing it now- which is to bring some additional financial resources to our community to support building improvements and clean energy projects, particularly in affordable housing.

I’m working with colleagues in the Relay Network, which are similar mission-driven organizations in other communities across the country. We are all working to strengthen resilience in our communities - reducing energy costs and making our communities more resilient to extreme weather events.

I’ll run through a few slides just to give you some basic information about what we are doing and the program, and then have some questions for you.

Note: please swap out the cover image for an image of your community! And, add your organization’s logo and that of your CBO partner if relevant to the top of this slide!

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Who are we?

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Photo by Bruce Damonte courtesy of David Baker Architects

The Relay Network is a national network of organizations committed to advancing healthy, high performance buildings in disinvested communities. The Relay Network utilizes learning, collaboration, and innovation to grow its capacity to serve those communities.

Our local partner Fifth Ward CRC catalyzes resources to build and preserve an inclusive 5th Ward Community by developing places and opportunities to live, work and play. Celebrating 35 years of service!

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Our goals

Identify the organizations and people in Houston/Harris County who may benefit from federal funding for resilient and energy-efficient homebuilding and renovations
Identify organizations and people who can do the work in Houston / Harris County (lenders, contractors, workforce development, engineers, etc)
Make a plan to maximize benefits locally

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Photo by Bruce Damonte courtesy of David Baker Architects

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Why study this now?

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Boost investment in “Low Income and Disadvantaged Communities” (LIDAC)*

Reduce pollution

Leverage additional private capital

*LIDAC communities: CEJST, EJ, geographically dispersed low-income households, properties providing affordable housing

The federal government has dedicated funding to improve buildings and reduce energy use nationwide. This includes a $27 billion fund to invest in buildings as well as rebates for individual properties.

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What types of projects can be funded?

Distributed energy and storage projects

Residential rooftop solar and storage, residential-benefitting community solar

Building projects

Energy efficiency, electrification, solar, storage and EV infrastructure

Clean transportation

(consumer vehicle loans, fleet electrification projects, EV infrastructure)

Building projects might include…

Weatherization measures like air sealing, duct sealing, and insulation
Installation of electric heat pumps (HVAC, clothes dryers, water heaters)
Electric panel and wiring upgrades
Materials to improve ventilation
Solar & battery installation
Potentially other energy-saving technologies that can also improve a building’s resilience and lifespan

The funds can be flexibly used for:

Newly constructed AND existing housing
Single-family AND multi-family
Ownership AND rental housing

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St. Peter Apartments

First Net Zero New Construction building in Louisiana
50 mixed income apartments opened in 2019
On Site Solar and Battery backup
Proof of concept during Hurricane Ida when South Louisiana grid failed

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Developer: SBP

Architect: Eskew Dumez Ripple

Green Certification: Green Coast Enterprises

Location: New Orleans, LA

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New Isle

First Climate Relocation Community
29 income-restricted new construction homes (homeownership)
Enterprise Green Communities and FORTIFIED certified

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Developer: Jericho Road

Green Certification: Green Coast Enterprises

Location: Gray, LA

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Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

($27 Billion)

Solar for All (Grants

or Loans - $7B)

60 states, territories, tribes, municipalities & non-profits

100% LIDAC

Clean Communities Investment Accelerator ($6B)

5 networks of mission- oriented community banks

100% LIDAC

National Climate Investment Fund ($14B)

3 non-profit lender coalitions

At least 50% LIDAC

How is funding for these programs distributed?

Tax Credits and Rebates

Home Energy Rebates Programs

Direct discounts on energy efficiency upgrades that may also benefit building resilience

45L Energy Efficiency Tax Credit

For new construction projects built to green standards

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45L Energy Efficiency Tax Credit for New Construction

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Q: Have you heard of any green building standards currently being used in Houston and Harris County?

Please raise your hand or type in the chat if you are aware of green standards that are being used in housing development locally.
If you’ve used a green building standard in a development project, let us know which standard and what your experience was like!

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Q: Who provides training that could help us build the awareness and workforce needed to implement these programs?

Real estate development and architecture trainings?
Workforce development organizations?
Energy efficiency trainings?

Please raise your hand or type your thoughts in the chat.

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Q: What do you think the biggest opportunities and barriers are in seeking to bring funding for green and resilient building to Harris County?

Let us know if there are other organizations or people who need to be part of this conversation in order to overcome barriers.

Please raise your hand or type your thoughts in the chat.

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Q&A - Ask us your questions!

Please raise your hand or type in the chat to ask a question.

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Next Steps

We will be hosting in-person focus groups during the morning of Thursday, February 20 in collaboration with Fifth Ward CRC. Eventbrite link to register is here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1221017860289?aff=oddtdtcreator. We hope many of you will join us!
We will also have a web-based survey available that will be distributed after this meeting.
Our public report should be available by April 2025. We will share the report with HHC leadership for distribution.

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Thank you!

Follow up at:

alexandra.p.miller@gmail.com

jackie@greencoastenterprises.com

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Solar for All

Solar for All grants focus on distributed solar and battery resources, including solar and battery investments in single-family and multifamily residential.

The Texas Solar for All Coalition has $250M - includes Harris County, City of Houston, and HARC locally, as well as groups from elsewhere in the state. Investment strategy is still being developed by the group and programs have not yet been deployed.

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Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA)

Grant recipients provide capital and technical assistance to community lenders (community banks, credit unions, CDFIs) for distributed energy, net-zero buildings, and zero-emissions transportation projects. Capitalization will usually be up to $10 million per community lender and technical assistance will be up to $1 million per community lender.

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National Climate Investment Fund (NCIF)

Climate United Fund ($7B): Calvert Impact, Community Preservation Corporation, and Self-Help Ventures Fund. Focus on all types of green projects including housing.

Coalition for Green Capital ($5B): National nonprofit focused on funding green banks, credit unions, and CDFIs for all types of green projects including housing.

Power Forward Communities ($2B): LISC + Enterprise. Strong focus on housing.

Total of $14B invested into three national partnership groups; these groups will all distribute resources through local lenders & green banks. All three have residential energy improvements as part of their workplans.

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Join at slido.com�#9672443

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What is your role in the housing and development world?

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The Community Preservation Corporation (part of the Climate United NCIF group) has already created term sheets for investment that provide one example of what lending terms may look like for these investments.

Key ideas:

Cannot finance any fossil fuel equipment.
Must be part of a plan to make properties zero emissions in future.
See example term sheets here: https://communityp.com/products-services/sustainability/cpc-climate-capital/#term-sheets

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Example term sheets

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Your projects

Local access points

Source programs

EPA

($27B)

Grants or loans from Solar for All ($7 billion)

60 states, territories, tribes, municipalities & non-profits

100% LIDAC

Grants or loans from Solar for All grantees

resources from grantee orgs. to deploy & benefit from distributed residential solar

Focus on solar only

CCIA ($6B)

5 networks of mission- oriented community banks

100% LIDAC

Loans from community banks

Participating credit unions, CDFIs, other mission- oriented banks

Focus on all 3 project types

NCIF ($14B)

3 non-profit lender coalitions

At least 50% LIDAC

Loans from NCIF program partners

NCIF coalition member or their partner (e.g. mortgage banks)

Focus on all 3 project types

How is the funding allocated to projects?

Distributed energy and storage Projects

Residential rooftop solar and storage, residential-benefitting community solar

Building Projects

Energy efficiency, electrification, solar, storage and EV infrastructure

Clean transportation

(consumer vehicle loans, fleet electrification projects, EV infrastructure)

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Texas Solar for All Coalition (Solar for All) - Harris County was lead applicant for a large coalition of localities and organizations. Received $250M to be used in Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas areas. Focus on solar and battery resources. HARC is a local conduit for investment.
Clean Energy Fund of Texas (NCIF) - The Clean Energy Fund is a green bank that will be working with the NCIF-funded Coalition for Green Capital.
LISC Houston - Working with national LISC on Power Forward Communities.
Other community banks, CDFIs, and credit unions TBD.

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Resource providers relevant in Texas

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Please rank how important you think these program benefits are for Houston and Harris County.

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