Challenge: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Affordable Housing Preservation (OAHP) was established to restructure mortgages under the Mark-to-Market (M2M) program, and to assist in other affordable housing preservation programs and activities. In 2007, OAHP introduced the Green Initiative to work with and create an incentive for the owners of eligible multifamily (MF) properties to rehabilitate and operate their properties in the most sustainable, “green” way feasible. The department needed reliable information regarding the costs and benefits of particular green technologies to make the best decisions possible about what types of technologies would have the largest impact on cost savings.
Solution: Summit provided an analysis and advice to OAHP and HUD staff regarding the quantitative and qualitative outputs and outcomes of the Green Initiative, an analysis that assisted OAHP in improving program design and implementation. Summit also developed a database for tracking the pricing and availability of various green technologies utilized in the initiative to provide OAHP staff with a one-stop source of information on green technologies. In addition, Summit has developed a methodology for conducting a cost-benefit analysis of the initiative, and it is providing industry research comparing OAHP’s efforts to those in the larger industry by identifying opportunities to learn from other sector partners. Finally, Summit has provided OAHP with a portfolio-level financial analysis of the HUD MF Portfolio to assist OAHP in strategically targeting other segments of the HUD MF Portfolio for future “greening” efforts.