Renters in affordable housing felt forgotten and left out of the nation's transition to clean energy. They lived in older buildings that had been repaired over the years but had leaky windows and old appliances that consumed a lot of energy. They didn't have solar power.
That was the feedback Adrianne Todman got while traveling to housing sites as the head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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She told renters and property owners things were going to change, and on Tuesday that change hit a milepost: HUD announced the last $30 million of more than $1 billion spent to modernize and fix older buildings for thousands of low-income renters nationwide.
The aim is to make the homes more comfortable as they release less carbon pollution. The retrofits also allow them to better withstand extreme weather, preserving needed affordable housing units.
The money was disbursed nationwide over the past year. Building owners are using it to add energy efficient windows, heaters and air conditioners, electric vehicle charging stations, floodproofing, roofs that don't get as hot, and solar panels with batteries. Eligibility includes units where the federal government subsidizes rent for low income households, seniors and people with disabilities.
The Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark U.S. climate law, created the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program in 2022. About 26% of global energy-related emissions comes from keeping buildings running, according to the International Energy Agency. That's because oil and gas are burned to heat and cool rooms, run lights and appliances and make hot water.
“If there’s anything that this billion dollars has done, in addition to doing the work that those of us know needs to be done to deal with the impact of climate change, it’s given people who live in those buildings hope, so that they can live comfortably, and hope that they can live safely,” Todman said in an interview.
That includes New Orleans resident Hilda Bell, 74, who wants to live in a building that is safe from severe weather. Bell resides at the St. John Berchman’s Manor apartments for low-income seniors in New Orleans.
One of the larger awards, a $12 million loan, was given to the owner of her apartment, Providence Community Housing, in September. The building flooded with four feet of water during Hurricane Katrina and it took four years for it to reopen, in 2009, after repairs. Now 42 years old, it needs a fortified roof and windows that can withstand severe storms, structural changes to harden electrical and mechanical systems against flooding, and updated heating and cooling equipment to reduce energy use.
“I know this building needs that strengthening. The roof needs repairs. The windows need to be sealed,” Bell said. “So this money that’s awarded can be greatly used. There are many things that can be replaced. Because they were fixing before, but with this award money, things can be replaced.”
The community desperately needs affordable housing, said Terri B. North, president and CEO of Providence Community Housing. If the building is green, energy efficient and resilient, it'll last for another 42 years, she added.
At Crafton Towers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, residents will get most of their electricity from solar power once their renovation is done. Owner ACTION-Housing, Inc. said the apartments need significant improvements focused on energy efficiency and decarbonization and the help is needed because it has become increasingly hard to make improvements as energy costs go up but rents don't. The nonprofit developer received a nearly $6.2 million grant.
“We need to preserve affordable housing by keeping these buildings operating, keeping the utility costs down and making them more energy efficient and better for our climate than they have been,” said Sarah Ralich, senior energy and construction manager for ACTION-Housing. This program, she said, "actually gives tangible dollars for the work.”
Resident Joseph Cousineau Sr., 73, agreed the 1970s building “needs some love.” Water leaks through the windows when it rains and the heating and cooling units in some apartments don't work, he said. The building is getting a new exterior with insulation and windows and electric heat pumps to replace gas-fired units.
“We’ve been left out for years. Nothing has been changed on this building at all, to really improve it, since the day they built it,” he said. “We need to be brought up to date, we really do,” he said.
Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc. received 18 awards through the program, ranging from $750,000 to $7.8 million, totaling nearly $65 million. At Island Terrace Apartments, a 21-story, 240-unit high rise for families, an intense rehabilitation is underway that is desperately needed, said Konrad Schlater, vice president for development finance at the national nonprofit. That includes a device that saves energy and is becoming more common: an energy recovery ventilation unit. It brings in fresh air and sends out stale air without losing heating or air conditioning. Resident Bernadine Gibson, 82, said she sometimes leaves her apartment door open to get fresh air.
There would have been no way to modernize many of these properties now without the HUD program, Schlater said.
One of the first grant recipients was Woodland Homes, an apartment community for low-income seniors in Lexington, Tennessee. Property manager Wesley Living used a $750,000 grant to convert the furnace and water heater from gas to electric, new cabling for the electrification work and electric vehicle charging stations. Solar panels were added to the community center roof, with batteries to store power as part of a larger renovation using a state tax credit program. The work is now complete.
“It’s going to be good for the future, not only for us, but for the future of our planet,” said 74-year-old resident Judy Jones.
Jones and other residents said they take comfort in knowing the lights will stay on in the community center when severe storms and tornadoes cause outages. Wesley Living expects the buildings to use about a third less energy, reducing both utility bills and carbon emissions.
HUD is tracking which investments significantly reduce energy and water use and improve the lives of residents, and will share that information with affordable housing providers to help inform their future renovation decisions. Grants and loans totaling about $1.4 billion have gone to 270 properties with over 30,000 rental homes in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Todman thinks the true number of people helped is far higher, considering future residents. Without these investments, she said, some of the units could have become distressed and unlivable, worsening the affordable housing shortage.
“This program brings HUD’s subsidized units into the 21st century," she said. “It helps to make sure that people, because they’re low-income, are not being left behind with the energy improvements that need to happen and are happening across the country.”
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AP Photojournalist Erin Hooley contributed from Chicago.
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