News

Boston-based WinnCompanies has cut its electric bill for common areas by 25% at Loft 27, a 173-unit apartment building, as the result of efficiency retrofit and solar projects completed in 2012. The apartment development was created from the adaptive re-use of an historic former mill. Download

RStreet Apartments, a collection of 130 apartment units in five historic low-rise buildings, is an example of a situation where an initial green retrofit project doesn’t have to be the end-all and be-all. Rather, new upgrades a few years later can reap additional utility cost savings. Less than four years after a LIHTC renovation was […]

Retrofitting affordable multifamily rental housing properties to make them more energy efficient is critically important for building owners and managers. Energy consumption is the largest or second-largest category of operating expenses in these kinds of properties. However, investing in energy efficiency improvements requires capital, which can be difficult to secure in the current era of […]

The investment of a mere $1.25 million in energy and water retrofit improvements at a 91-year-old, 16-story mixed-use building in downtown Pittsburgh, Pa. is already generating substantial savings from reduced utility costs, while providing more comfortable living conditions for the residents. Download

Residents get their electricity mostly for free at Arbor Green Apartments, a new 40-unit low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) development in Los Angeles County. The reason? A sprawling rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system at the site that supplies nearly all of the power for the entire property, including the apartments and common areas. Download

After a green affordable multifamily rental housing project is completed, either through new construction or renovation, will the expected energy and water cost savings actually be achieved? To a large degree, the answer depends on the day-to-day actions of the residents and whether they are motivated to conserve, either by financial rewards (e.g., smaller utility […]

More than 120 enthusiastic energy- and cost-concerned representatives from a variety of affordable housing companies and organizations filled a conference room in a building adjacent to Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station on April 3 for a frank and incisive, daylong look at the true financial benefits that can be reaped from best practices in energy and […]

Governor Martin O’Malley announced that Raymond A. Skinner, who has served as Secretary of DHCD since 2007, is retiring at the end of the month and that he will appoint Clarence J. Snuggs, the current Deputy Secretary of DHCD, as acting secretary effective September 1, 2014

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today proposed a rule that would establish housing goals for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2015 through 2017.

Conserving water through rainwater harvesting saves natural resources, providing water for use in buildings and for site irrigation. http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=242&C=760

IRS recently released Revenue Procedure 2014-49 to make revisions to Revenue Procedure 2007-54 which established temporary relief from certain requirements of Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code for owners and agencies located in areas affected by major disasters.

HUD recently released Housing Notice 2014-10 to make updates to certain procedures published in Notice 2011-18 “Processing Guidance for the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly and Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Programs.”