Late last week, the White House released President Trump’s so-called “Skinny Budget” for 2018, which proposes cuts of $54 billion to domestic programs including more than $6.2 billion (13%) to HUD programs and likely deep cuts to USDA’s housing programs. In addition to eliminating the valuable Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program ($357 million for California) and making deep cuts Read More
Consistent access to energy usage data is a transformative tool for reducing energy consumption at multifamily properties. Data enables building owners to target the most cost efficient energy upgrades and ensure the long-term sustainability and affordability of properties. Further, benchmarking is often a prerequisite for participating in federal and state energy efficiency and renewable incentive programs in order to establish Read More
On December 14, 2016, the California Energy Commission (CEC) approved the SB 350 Barriers Study mandated by Senate Bill 350 to address barriers for low-income households and disadvantaged communities to participate in energy efficiency and renewables opportunities. The purpose of the study is to identify how new legislation and joint agency efforts can establish transformative goals and policies to enable all Read More
On November 10, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a decision that dedicates $80 million to empower government and non-profit owners of rent-restricted affordable housing to participate in Energy Savings Assistance (ESA) programs for low-income households. The Green Rental home Energy Efficiency Network (GREEN) and Energy Efficiency for All (EEFA) Coalition* secured these funds and significant ESA program improvements Read More
On June 27th, 2016, Governor Brown signed into law important changes to the State Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program that will substantially increase equity pricing for nonprofit developers of LIHTC-financed properties by allowing them to certificate state housing credits and sell them separately from federal LIHTCs. The California Housing Partnership and State Treasurer John Chiang co-sponsored and helped draft this Read More
The California Department of Finance (DOF) generally focuses only on the cost to the state of proposed new investments. Just last week they insisted that a common sense proposal by Senator Jim Beall (SB 873) should be limited to only three years because mistaken assumptions by the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) led the DOF to conclude that the change would cost hundreds Read More