Consumer Law Group Report Says HUD Could Save $1 Billion Annually on Rental Assistance with Energy Conservation.

National Consumer Law Center report is HERE.

Report says 7 "free" ways to achieve savings are:

1. Tapping more effectively into the estimated
$4.5 billion utility companies and
energy efficiency program administrators
spend each year on energy efficiency so
that a proportionate share of the funding
reaches low-income, multifamily housing;
2. Providing ongoing support to subsidized
housing owners that will allow them to
coordinate better with the existing lowincome
Weatherization Assistance Program
(“WAP”) which pays for insulation
and other energy-efficiency related investments
in low-income housing;
3. Better coordination between WAP and
HUD’s Community Development Block
Grant (“CDBG”) program so that energy
efficiency investments can be more easily
piggy-backed on work already being done
on the home through CDBG;
4. Providing assistance to smaller housing
authorities so they can utilize “energy
performance contracts” that are now
almost exclusively used by large, wellstaffed
housing authorities to improve
their energy efficiency;
5. Facilitating greater use of energy efficient
“utility allowances,” thereby providing
better incentives for housing authorities
and private, subsidized owners to invest
in energy efficiency;
6. Collecting much better data on energy
usage in HUD-subsidized housing; and
7. Setting and attaining energy savings
targets for HUD’s housing stock, as
Congress has mandated. A 20% savings
goal, which could be met over the next
decade, would save $1 billion and more
annually.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.