Posted on March 18, 2024
To demonstrate how existing affordable housing can become more sustainable and in line with statewide climate goals, MHP is proud to announce the second set of awards and third round of funding from the state’s Climate Ready Housing program.
Fairweather Apartments in Salem and Prospect Place in Northampton are the second pair of projects to receive funding through the Climate Ready Housing program, which launched in 2022. MHP and MassHousing are administering this program for the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), with support from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). Total program funding to date totals $3 million.
“The Healey-Driscoll Administration is firmly committed to addressing the housing and climate crises simultaneously,” said EOHLC Secretary Ed Augustus. “The Climate Ready Housing program allows us to invest in solutions and demonstrate how to carve a path to decarbonize the affordable housing sector. Congratulations and thank you to the project owners who have taken bold steps to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels while also prioritizing affordability and quality of life.”
“We’re excited to partner with the Healey-Driscoll Administration, alongside MassHousing and LISC, to deliver these funds to affordable properties pursuing such innovative building retrofit approaches,” said MHP Executive Director Clark Ziegler. “We applaud the Administration’s landmark efforts for climate action, and support the continued funding of the Climate Ready Housing program in the Affordable Homes Act to keep the state’s climate goals on track and ensure that decarbonization efforts reach the state’s low-income renter households.”
“MassHousing is proud to support the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s ambitious climate agenda,” said MassHousing CEO Chrystal Kornegay. “The significant expansion of the Climate Ready Housing program will position housing communities across Massachusetts to take advantage of new federal, state, and private financing opportunities, while ensuring that low- and moderate-income households lead our state’s clean energy transition. These funds will reduce carbon emissions and create a better quality of life for residents.”
In 2024, the state has substantially increased its funding of the program, with $16 million available for applicants this year. Developments pursuing both deep-energy retrofit and zero-over-time approaches to decarbonization may be eligible for funding awards. Pre-applications will be accepted through April 12. See below for more details or go to www.lisc.org/climatereadyhousing.
MHP's commitment to climate
The Climate Ready program represents a continuation of MHP’s work to advance sustainable, high-performance, and resilient affordable housing through its Green & Healthy Housing programs. Since 2019, MHP has committed $275 million in financing for over 3,000 units of housing in projects that have achieved or are pursuing applicable certifications/energy efficiency improvements.
Our Green & Healthy programs provide owners with interest rate reductions, energy benchmarking services, and other financial incentives for green investments in their new construction or existing multifamily affordable properties. Applicants for the next round of Climate Ready funding may be good candidates for MHP's Green Retrofit Financing program or its Green Building Certification program.
“MHP is committed to making sure affordable homes in Massachusetts are healthy and climate-friendly places for people to live," said MHP Director of Sustainability and Climate Initiatives Lauren Baumann. We expect the Climate Ready Housing projects to inform strategies for cost-effectively scaling the decarbonization efforts of multi-family affordable housing statewide, in pursuit of our emissions reduction and resilience goals.
Celebrating 2023 awardees
Fairweather Salem is a 127-unit housing community in the heart of Salem and is one of four buildings that make up the Fairweather portfolio that houses over 300 senior residents north of Boston. In 2022, Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) completed a feasibility study to evaluate the design, utilization, and installation of pre–manufactured panels (that include windows) to the exterior of the building. POAH kicked off the design and preconstruction of the project with funds currently available in MA for deep energy retrofits.
The prefabricated panels offer a noninvasive way to weatherize and improve the building’s enclosure without the need for resident relocation. This forward-thinking technology paired with the full electrification of the building systems and upgrading an existing solar photovoltaic system, will reduce the energy usage by 84 percent and eliminate fossil fuels from the building. Climate Ready Housing will support this effort with a $1 million award which will help fund the incremental costs of moving forward with these energy- and carbon-savings measures. POAH is excited to move forward with this project, which can serve as a scalable, successful model for other multifamily developments.
Prospect Place is the adaptive reuse of the former Northampton Nursing Home, a 72,000 square foot building constructed in 1971, to create 60 affordable family apartments with sizes ranging from studios to three-bedrooms for households whose incomes range from extremely low- to moderate-income. It includes preferences for people who are currently unhoused and people with disabilities.
Valley Community Development (Valley), a local nonprofit, purchased the building in 2022 with ambitious plans to decarbonize the property. The cornerstone of this effort is installation of a geothermal heat pump system that will fuel heat, cooling, and hot water. The geothermal system, combined with a large solar photovoltaic array and extensive building envelope improvements, will eliminate the use of fossil fuels at this property. These improvements are expected to reduce energy use by 77 percent. The decision to re-use the existing building structure, including a massive quantity of brick, concrete, and steel in excellent condition, is a significant carbon sequestering strategy that will reduce the embodied carbon impact of the development. The Climate Ready Housing Program will support this project with a $500,000 award to offset the costs of the geothermal system. Valley is excited to help pioneer the utilization of geothermal energy and to help catalyze new approaches to make housing climate ready.
Information about 2024 funding round
Funding for the Climate Ready Housing program comes from the state’s 2021 economic development bond bill through the EOHLC. The goal of the program is to support projects pursuing one of the following approaches:
- Deep Energy Retrofits (DER): Involves extensive building envelope improvements, electrification of building systems, maximization of on-site renewable energy production; and embodied carbon reduction resulting in significant energy savings by at least 50 percent and carbon emissions reductions.
- Zero Carbon Emissions Over Time (ZOT): This approach assumes a less significant intervention in the upcoming rehabilitation project than is represented in the DER approach but reflects thoughtful planning on the part of the project team to capture the pending rehabilitation as part of a long-term plan to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The funding round schedule for 2024 is as follows:
- Monday, March 18 – Pre-application opens
- Friday, April 12 – Pre-application deadline
- Monday, May 6 – Application opens (pre-approved applicants only)
- Friday, May 31 – Application deadline
More info and application materials, including the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), can be found on LISC’s website.
For general information contact MHP Communication Manager Lisa Braxton at Lbraxton@mhp.net or at (857) 301-1526.