Nationwide Initiative to Accelerate Energy Upgrades for Affordable Housing
As part of the Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity (R2E2) partnership, HR&A is providing training and capacity building assistance for awardees of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Buildings Upgrade Prize (Buildings UP). Separate from this work, R2E2 provides technical assistance to state and local governments, community-based organizations, and other entities to jumpstart energy retrofit programs for both single family and multifamily low- to moderate-income housing (“LMI” housing), especially in frontline communities.
As a founding partner of the Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity (R2E2) coalition, HR&A is serving as a technical advisor to the long-term design and implementation of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Buildings Upgrade Prize. The Buildings Upgrade (Buildings UP) Prize is a national challenge intended to dramatically scale building retrofits, and drive policy and program innovation to solve the non-technical barriers to building upgrades. HR&A is working with teams to deliver scalable and replicable upgrades to buildings in disadvantaged communities, low-and-moderate income households, and underserved commercial, nonprofit and public buildings.
HR&A advised on the design of the national challenge to scale clean energy retrofits in the low- and moderate-income (LMI) housing market. During the application phase (Phase 1) of Buildings UP, HR&A provided trainings for government staff and community-based organizations on how to leverage federal funding, introductions to energy efficiency in LMI housing, and approaches to multi-sector, community-centered engagement to scale up holistic retrofits in LMI housing. HR&A reviewed applications to the prize, assessing over 50 applications from teams developing innovative concepts for energy efficiency and efficient electrification initiatives for buildings in their communities. Forty-five (45) teams from across the country won the Phase 1 prize—39 of which, won $400,000 each for retrofit plans as part of Buildings UP’s Equity-Centered Innovation pathway.
Teams are currently in Phase 2 of the Prize and are receiving extensive technical assistance in addition to their funding prize to further refine and scale their programs. In the Prize’s Phase 2, HR&A is providing individualized technical assistance to teams and developing group resources on topics ranging from strategies to preventing housing and utility cost increases due to building upgrades, maintaining housing affordability and mitigating potential displacement, creating accessible materials for program participants, quantifying the economic benefits of upgrade work, and advising on teams’ overall program financing and design. HR&A is providing technical assistance to over 10 teams from New York to California on these topics. HR&A’s technical assistance will play a direct role in each team’s ability to provide critical building upgrades, housing, and health services to LMI households across the country, often as one of the first organizations to do so in their region, and access additional funding.
R2E2 is a partnership of HR&A Advisors, the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Elevate, and Emerald Cities Collaborative with People’s Climate Innovation Center advising on centering equity in the project and its outcomes and on facilitating community-driven planning processes.
Explore
Buildings Upgrade Prize Announcement
Buildings Upgrade Prize Phase 1 Winners
Read the Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity (R2E2) Playbook
