Case study

Project Name: Electrifying New York’s Affordable Housing

Project Leader(s): Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. 

Partner(s): Association for Energy Affordability (AEA), New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR)

Stage of Completion: In-progress

Construction Type: Existing buildings

Building Type: Multi-family

Total Number of Units Targeted:

• Target a handful of 20-50 unit multi-family buildings

• Targeting a total of 150-200 units across all buildings for the pilot

Total Number of Units Completed: None; still in early phases of identifying buildings/units for the pilot. Currently in the identification process to ensure buildings/units meet Weatherization Assistance Projects (WAP) requirements and that the building is well suited for electrification.

Tenant Structure: Renter-occupied

Target Audience:

• The project will prioritize communities that are considered disadvantaged as defined by NY State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. This includes communities with high degrees of hospitalization rates for asthma, faulty heating systems, and heating systems that produce the greatest emissions.  

• The project will also target buildings that meet WAP eligibility criteria. 

• In addition to ensuring that at least 40% of the units are located in disadvantaged communities, Enterprise is also developing a prioritization framework to identify eligible buildings. Priority 1 are buildings located in disadvantaged communities as identified by NY Climate Act. Priority 2 are communities with high climate and health impacts, which are majority minority communities. Priority 3 are additional building characteristics, including history of blackouts, heating source, and vulnerable tenant populations such as seniors. The ultimate goal is to create a weatherization and electrification protocol that can be scaled across NY state.

Full/Partial Electrification: Mix: both partial and full depending on budget and unit needs.

Existing Heating Fuel Type: Gas, oil, electric resistance

End Uses Electrified: Dependent on WAP eligibility. Currently looking at building systems, HVAC, heating and cooling. Looking at the most critical and impactful scope items to incorporate into electrification. 

Specific electric appliances installed: Unsure at this time. Several public buildings are currently undergoing scoping, still need to determine what is most suitable for each unique building. The primary focus for use of the pilot funds  will be heat pumps for domestic hot water heating and air source heat pumps for HVAC. Pilot funds will not be used to replace gas stoves with electric stoves.

Total Project Funding: $2 million, for a 3-year pilot including administration costs for Enterprise and AEA

• Some of the funding will go to Enterprise’s subgrantee partner, the Association for Energy Affordability (AEA).

• Matched with WAP program funding

• Sourcing additional city and state funding

Amount or % of Project Cost Covered per unit:

• 75% of the cost for eligible WAP upgrades will be covered (WAP requires owners to contribute at least 25% of WAP eligible scope items)

• Goal is to cover 100% of the project cost of electrification upgrades for participants, but this may be subject to change depending on budget

Source of Funding:

• $2 million from DOE 

• Additional funding from WAP 

• Potential city and state funding

Motivation for electrification: Through this pilot Enterprise seeks to develop and disseminate a property prioritization protocol and audit protocol to better incorporate electrification measures into WAP projects, so WAP funds may be leveraged to achieve building decarbonization goals. The project aims to contribute to an equitable transition to a clean energy economy while delivering the greatest benefit to underserved communities. This project aims to help the state identify where to prioritize and incorporate electrification into the state’s existing WAP program. 

Additional Measures Implemented: Deep energy-efficiency interventions such as replacing windows, solar assessment leading to onsite or community solar installation, health and safety modifications, local health justice education programming

Workforce Development/Green Jobs Component: Enterprise is in early project planning with partners to engage BIPOC contractors for the project. Enterprise is looking into partner networks for how to source, conduct outreach, and engage BIPOC contractors. 

Next steps:

• Currently finalizing a handful of projects for the pilot, undergoing site assessment and scope of work development. 

• Next phase will be approving scope and moving on to carrying out the retrofits.

Source: Project summary