April 27, 2010 - Leaders in housing and related fields from across the Northeast recently learned how to harness energy savings to help fund the preservation of existing affordable housing that could be lost due to disrepair or expiring affordability.

The April 14 Boston conference. “Partners in Innovation: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing Through Energy Conservation,” was one of four events across the country on preserving affordable housing sponsored by the National Housing Conference and the MacArthur Foundation.

The conference underscored that energy issues should be at the heart of rehabbing housing and preserving affordability.  In addition to growing commitment by the federal government to green initiatives, it can also be used to pull in private investment. The future energy savings resulting from housing rehab can be used to pay back bank lending that helps finance the rehab. 

As state and federal governments endure significant budget deficits in the foreseeable future, tapping into the private market will be critical. Presenters outlined a variety of work underway that is creating a foundation for this growing industry - better metering and analysis of energy savings to determine which building methods work best and to verify that expected savings are realized; establishing best practices for underwriting green preservation deals; integrating private financing with government programs; using municipal bonding capacity to facilitate energy retrofits; and finding ways for both landlords and tenants to share energy cost savings and be motivated to conserve.

Materials and presentations from the conference available here.