[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 186 (Tuesday, September 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58526-58528]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-20855]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-6350-N-01]


Green and Resilient Retrofit Program: Request for Information

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing 
Commissioner, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: In response to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 
2022, HUD is currently designing a new program, the Green and Resilient 
Retrofit Program (GRRP), and expects to make multiple rounds of funding 
available to support energy, and water efficiency retrofits and climate 
resilience of HUD-assisted multifamily properties. Through this Request 
for Information (RFI), HUD is seeking input on funding rounds as well 
as on utility benchmarking. Information provided in response to this 
RFI will inform prioritization of work, treatment of cost-benefit 
analyses, and key design elements that will help ensure program goals 
are met.

DATES: Comments are requested on or before October 27, 2022. Late-filed 
comments will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments responsive 
to this RFI. All submissions must refer to the docket number and title 
of the RFI. Commenters are encouraged to identify the number of the 
specific question or questions to which they are responding. Responses 
should include the name(s) of the person(s) or organization(s) filing 
the comment; however, because any responses received by HUD will be 
publicly available, responses should not include any personally 
identifiable information or confidential commercial information.
    There are two methods for submitting public comments.
    1. Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit 
comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
https://www.regulations.gov.
    2. Submission of Comments by Mail. Comments may be submitted by 
mail to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department 
of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW, Room 10276, 
Washington, DC 20410-0500.
    HUD strongly encourages commenters to submit their feedback and 
recommendations electronically. Electronic submission of comments 
allows the commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a response, 
ensures timely receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make comments 
immediately available to the public. Comments submitted electronically 
through the https://www.regulations.gov website can be viewed by other 
commenters and interested members of the public. Commenters should 
follow the instructions provided on that site to submit comments 
electronically.

    Note: To receive consideration as public comments, comments must 
be submitted through one of the two methods specified above. Again, 
all submissions must refer to the docket number and title of the 
notice.


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    Public Inspection of Public Comments. All comments and 
communications properly submitted to HUD will be available for public 
inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the above 
address. Due to security measures at the HUD Headquarters building, an 
advance appointment to review the public comments must be scheduled by 
calling the Regulations Division at (202) 708-3055 (this is not a toll-
free number). Individuals can dial 7-1-1 to access the 
Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS), which permits users to make 
text-based calls, including Text Telephone (TTY) and Speech to Speech 
(STS) calls. Individuals who require an alternative aid or service to 
communicate effectively with HUD should email [email protected] and provide 
a brief description of their preferred method of communication. Copies 
of all comments submitted are available for inspection and downloading 
at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lauren Ross, Senior Adviser for 
Housing and Sustainability, Office of Multifamily Housing, Department 
of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW, Room 6106, 
Washington, DC 20410-0500; telephone number 202-402-5423 (this is not a 
toll-free number). Individuals can dial 7-1-1 to access the 
Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS), which permits users to make 
text-based calls, including Text Telephone (TTY) and Speech to Speech 
(STS) calls. Individuals who require an alternative aid or service to 
communicate effectively with HUD should email [email protected] and provide 
a brief description of their preferred method of communication.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-169) (the Act) 
makes $837.5 million available to HUD for the provision of loans and 
grants to fund projects that improve energy or water efficiency, 
enhance indoor air quality or sustainability, implement the use of 
zero-emission electricity generation, low-emission building materials 
or processes, energy storage, or building electrification strategies, 
and/or address climate resilience. Eligible HUD-assisted multifamily 
properties include, but are not limited to, Section 8 Project Based 
Rental Assistance (PBRA), Section 811 Housing for Persons with 
Disabilities, and Section 202 Housing for the Elderly. The Act also 
includes $42.5 million for energy and water benchmarking of the HUD-
assisted multifamily portfolio along with associated data analysis and 
evaluation at the property- and portfolio-level, and the development of 
information technology systems necessary for the collection, 
evaluation, and analysis of such data.
    In response to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, 
HUD is currently designing a new program, the Green and Resilient 
Retrofit Program (GRRP), and expects to make multiple rounds of funding 
available to support energy and water efficiency retrofits and climate 
resilience of HUD-assisted multifamily properties. HUD is seeking input 
on funding rounds as well as on benchmarking. Public input will inform 
prioritization of work, treatment of cost-benefit analyses, and key 
design elements that will help ensure program goals are met. Overall 
goals of the GRRP for the HUD-assisted multifamily portfolio include 
reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, improving indoor air 
quality for residents, reducing residents' and properties' exposure to 
climate hazards, and protecting life, livability, and property when 
disaster strikes. Additionally, the GRRP will serve to further preserve 
the long-term affordability of the assisted properties.

II. Purpose of This Request for Information

    The purpose of this RFI is to solicit information regarding the 
design and implementation of the GRRP to support the improvement of 
energy and water efficiency retrofits, and climate resilience of HUD-
assisted multifamily properties.

III. Specific Information Requested

    While HUD welcomes all comments relevant to the design and 
implementation of the GRRP, HUD is particularly interested in receiving 
input from interested parties on the questions outlined below.
    1. HUD is seeking input on program design features, energy-saving 
measures, low-emission technology, and resilience design and measures 
that have proven effective in affordable multifamily buildings. How 
might this program help prioritize and scale best practices for 
reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, improving indoor air 
quality for residents, and strengthening climate resilience among 
affordable multifamily buildings? How can these measures and practices 
be deployed in a way that preserves affordability of our properties? 
Eligible uses for project funding and/or financing include:
    a. Improve energy and/or water efficiency.
    b. Enhance indoor air quality and/or sustainability.
    c. Implement the use of zero-emission electricity generation, low-
emission building materials or processes, and/or energy storage, or 
building electrification strategies.
    d. Address climate resilience.
    2. This program offers owners of HUD-assisted multifamily 
properties an opportunity to plan comprehensively around energy 
efficiency and climate resilience. Often, these goals can be 
interrelated. Materials and technologies that enhance a building's 
energy efficiency can also make the building more durable and resilient 
to threats posed by extreme weather events. It is also possible that 
some energy efficiency and climate resilience improvements may be in 
tension. HUD would like recommendations for designing the program to 
meet energy and emissions reduction goals as well as climate 
resilience. HUD seeks information on how to balance multiple goals 
(i.e., energy efficiency, decarbonization, and climate resilience). In 
addition, given the various eligible uses of funds, cost-effectiveness 
will vary greatly across projects. How might HUD factor in cost-
effectiveness when evaluating applications for energy- and/or 
resilience-related projects?
    3. States, localities, and utilities administer programs aimed at 
delivering energy efficiency and electrification to affordable 
multifamily properties. In addition, the Inflation Reduction Act makes 
significant funding available for home energy rebates for low- and 
moderate-income households through the U.S. Department of Energy and 
expands the renewable energy Investment Tax Credit. How might HUD 
encourage or require applicants to leverage other funding for 
projects-- such as owner equity, other federal, state, local, and/or 
utility grants, loans, rebates, tax credits, and incentives?
    4. HUD seeks to design this program to enable deep retrofits of 
multifamily properties--retrofits that would likely not be possible 
without this funding. Certain markets are more primed to deploy deep 
and resilient retrofits in the multifamily sector, while others may 
lack the state and local infrastructure and workforce for delivering 
retrofits in this sector. While HUD seeks to maximize impact, how can 
HUD best ensure that funding is distributed equitably?
    5. HUD's ability to achieve its goal of benchmarking energy and 
water use for the majority of HUD-assisted multifamily portfolio rests 
on the availability and accessibility of whole-building aggregate 
energy data. What

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role can HUD play to support greater access to this utility data? What 
opportunities exist for HUD to engage utilities and/or public utility 
commissions to make this data readily available to our multifamily 
building owners? What incentives, financial support, and/or technical 
support would encourage owners to participate and get their properties 
benchmarked?
    6. What equity considerations should HUD consider when implementing 
property retrofits and benchmarking? HUD-assisted properties exist 
nationwide, and they disproportionately serve residents who are 
otherwise underserved by housing markets, including people with 
disabilities, older adults, and people from communities of color.
    7. This will be the first HUD program to target multifamily 
properties nationwide with property-level resilience interventions at 
this scale. How can and should HUD evaluate resilience needs and the 
effectiveness of these interventions, considering the variety of 
natural hazards and that the effectiveness of many resilience 
strategies are truly tested only when a disaster event strikes? How 
should HUD balance geographic disparities in the needs for resilience 
interventions (i.e., more frequent in coastal areas) and the 
availability of other funds, from HUD and other agencies, for 
recovering from disasters?

Jeffrey D. Little,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing.
[FR Doc. 2022-20855 Filed 9-26-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P