The program is divided into three cohorts: Elements, Leading Edge, and Comprehensive. The Program provides funding in direct loans and grants to fund projects that improve energy or water efficiency, enhance indoor air quality, and advance building electrification in HUD-assisted properties
The Green and Resilient Retrofit Program is a program administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designed to fund retrofits to make residential properties more energy efficient, climate resilient, and healthy for residents. The program funds retrofits in certain HUD-assisted multifamily housing that improve energy and/or water efficiency, energy and water benchmarking, improved indoor air quality, low-emission building materials or processes, climate resilience upgrades, building electrification, zero-emission electricity generation, energy storage, and carbon emission reduction. The program has up to $4 billion in grant and loan authority, depending on the property owners’ preference. Grants require the property owner to maintain affordability restrictions for 25 years and meet other terms while loans require the property to keep affordability restrictions for 15 years and interest is capped at 1 percent.
The Program is divided into three competitions: Elements, Leading Edge, and Comprehensive.
The Elements competition provides gap funding to properties in the midst of a recapitalization project to close within 12 months that includes utility efficiency, renewable energy, carbon emission reduction, and/or climate resilience measures. Eligible projects can receive up to $750,000 per property or $40,000 per unit for construction and transaction costs to incorporate the eligible investments into an ongoing project. Applications for this competition are being accepted in four waves. The third round of funding is due March 28, 2024. In the first round of funding, a property in the City of Glendale received a loan for $331,635.
The second competition is Leading Edge. Projects under this competition can receive up to $10 million per property or $60,000 per unit for construction and transaction costs associated with achieving a qualifying green certification. Projects can be at any stage of planning or construction. Applications under this competition are due July 2023, October 2023, January 2024, or April 2024.
The largest bucket of funding is under the Comprehensive competition. This funding is intended for properties in need of significant investment in utility efficiency and climate resilience. The funding can be used to commission assessments and develop a property’s recapitalization plan to support property owners with no prior experience in recapitalization or green construction. Properties will be scored by their current utility efficiency need and climate vulnerability measured by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index. Projects in this competition are eligible to receive up to $20 million per property or $80,000 per unit. Applications under this competition are due either August 2023, November 2023, February 2024, or May 2024.
EJ Ready organizations could conduct outreach to property owners to encourage them to apply for funding for decarbonization projects. Although this program is currently limited to certain HUD-assisted properties, the success of and the demand for this program can help propel efforts to obtain additional funding in the future and expand eligibility to public housing projects and other types of affordable housing.
As of September 2024, $842.5 Million has been awarded in 10 of 12 funding rounds with a total of 182 awarded properties.
Information last updated: September 23, 2024
FY 2023 Next Elements Grant Application Review Period: July 31, 2024
FY 2023 Next Leading Edge Grant Application Review Period: May 15, 2024
FY 2023 Next Comprehensive Grant Application Review Period: June 12, 2024