In This Issue:
Key Announcements
Following YoDa to Utility Benchmarking Glory: HUD's Year of Data Reaches Benchmarking Goals
Congratulations YoDa Goal Achievers!
Spotlight on Partner Energy Efficiency Successes
Key Announcements
- The 345 leading public and private sector organizations that comprise the BBC have accomplished a combined 240 trillion Btus and an estimated $1.9 billion in cumulative energy and cost savings. Results are summarized in the 2017 Better Buildings Progress Report.
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- The Multifamily sector was joined by two new partners, Foundation Communities and Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority. Please join us in welcoming them to the BBC!
- All presentations from the 2017 Better Buildings Summit are now posted on the Solution Center, including well-attended Multifamily sessions such as the sustainability planning workshop, Utility Benchmarking 101 and 201, and financing mechanisms for enery efficiency retrofits. Stay tuned for key takeaways from these sessions in future newsletters.
- Check out HUD's "Rebuild Healthy Homes" App for guidance on post natural disaster restoration of homes. It includes the principles and technical aspects of the safe and proper response and removal of mold, radon, asbestos, lead, and other hazards and unsafe conditions.
- The National Center for Healthy Housing is pleased to announce an open application for up to $5,000 grants for lead poisoning prevention events. 10+ communities will be awarded grants in the fall of 2017. Applications are due by July 28th, 2017.
- The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is accepting applications for its "Pillars of Multifamily" awards. Find the categories here and apply before August 4th to be considered!
- In Case You Missed It: HUD's Multifamily Utility Benchmarking Toolkit and the accompanying webinar series are available on the HUD Exchange.
Following YoDa to Utility Benchmarking Glory: HUD's Year of Data Reaches Benchmarking Goals
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Most of us know Yoda as a cute, rumpled little geriatric urging all of us to be our best selves. But for the past year 100 Better Buildings Challenge (BBC) multifamily partners have participated in YoDa, HUD's shorthand for the Year of Data drive. The acronym is appropriate in more ways than one, as the drive urged all participants to realize their best selves as property managers, through the magic of utility benchmarking. |
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Utility benchmarking is the practice of tracking, analyzing, and reporting energy and water consumption and costs associated with a portfolio of properties. It allows property owners to gain insight into the energy and water performance of properties, the potential for improvements, changes in performance over time, and the effectiveness of investments made to improve performance.
But the process isn't always easy. There are persistent challenges unique to multifamily housing providers, such as collecting whole building utility data that includes tenant paid accounts, raising privacy concerns from utilities asked to share the data. Even when privacy issues are addressed, the sheer volume of data collection from hundreds and sometimes thousands of tenant meters can be daunting for utilities and multifamily housing providers. Just cataloguing a property portfolio’s square footage—which can run into millions of square feet for the largest public housing authorities—can be a cumbersome task.
Enter the Year of Data. Launched in the summer of 2016 and supported by HUD and DOE, YoDa provided technical assistance designed specifically for BBC multifamily sector partners, to accelerate their use of portfolio-wide, building-level data and get a better picture of their buildings' energy consumption patterns and costs. YoDa's goals were ambitious: partners that had been in the program between one and two years (juniors) were tasked with cataloging the square footage of their portfolios and benchmarking at least 80 percent of owner-paid utility receipts. Partners in the program for more than two years (seniors) had the additional task of collecting and reporting at least 30 percent of whole building data for one year into ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager or other data tracking software, and publishing the data on the BBC Solution Center.
HUD is proud to announce YoDa results. The lightbulb graphic below illustrates overall program goals set for the YoDa drive: the Reach Goal aimed for 90 percent of participants to reach their individual goal. The Minimum Goal targeted 60 percent of participants. HUD is proud to report that 71 percent of YoDa participants (juniors and seniors combined) reached their goal - 14 juniors and 57 seniors. These partners overcame numerous barriers and are now tracking, analyzing or publishing their utility consumption and cost data. See BBC multifamily partners' energy data displays on the BBC Solutions Center.
The results go far deeper than these numbers show. Working with HUD-contracted data experts, BBC partners learned valuable nuts and bolts lessons on their YoDa benchmarking journey:
- How to catalogue the number and type of properties in a portfolio and their associated meters. Utility meters may track consumption in a single housing unit, part or all of a single building, or an entire multi-building property. HUD's Multifamily Utility Benchmarking Plan Template helps housing providers catalogue their portfolios.
- How to develop a strategy for collecting data. Should partners pursue actual consumption data directly from utilities by property owner and tenant meters? Are they able to address utility privacy concerns about tenants? If they couldn't get actual whole building data directly, many partners learned how to work with their utilities to get aggregated data, meaning multiple meters were summed up together to represent total consumption and cost for each type of payer (property owner, tenants). If they couldn't get aggregated data from utilities or complete tenant data, partners learned how to collect samples of individual tenant-paid utility data, using the Tenant-Paid Utility Data Sampling Calculator. The Multifamily Utility Benchmarking Plan Template also helps multifamily housing providers plan a data collection strategy.
- How to work with ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (PM). Partners learned how to set up an account in PM, add properties and meters, enter energy and water data either manually or through spreadsheet upload, and view results.
During the year HUD also developed the Multifamily Utility Benchmarking Toolkit, a comprehensive guide to utility benchmarking for the multifamily sector with key tools, case studies and frequently asked questions.
Just as Yoda's disciples in Star Wars® followed a true path to glory and success, so HUD's YoDa participants can realize long term success as they continue to follow the true path of utility benchmarking. Immediate benefits can include discovering equipment malfunctions, usage aberrations or utility billing errors, that once resolved, lead to significant cost savings. Bigger benefits happen when property owners track and analyze their data over time, using the information to plan and invest in in building performance improvements. These energy and water efficiency upgrades can generate cost savings to building owners, tenants and tax payers, stabilize operating costs and preserve affordable housing, increase comfort, health and safety for tenants, reduce tenant turnover and create green jobs. Improvements in efficiency can also increase a property's market value beyond a project's direct financial returns.
The graphic below shows how far YoDa participants have come in the past year. HUD congratulates all YoDa achievers on their success and wishes them many happy returns from their benchmarking glory.
Congratulations YoDa Goal Achievers!
Congratulations to the partners listed below for achieving their YoDa goals! Partners who had been in the program between one and two years (juniors) were tasked with benchmarking at least 80 percent of their owner-paid utility receipts. Partners in the program for more than two years (seniors) had the additional task of reporting at least 30 percent of their whole-building data.
ACTION-Housing Inc.
Aeon
AHEAD, Inc.
Atlanta Housing Authority
Balfour Beatty Communities
Beacon Communities
Capitol Hill Housing
Cion Housing Services
Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority
Forest City Realty Trust
Fort Wayne Housing Authority
FS Energy
Gragg Cardona Partners
Helena, MT Housing Authority
Hispanic Housing Development Corporation
Housing Authority of Baltimore City
Housing Authority of City of Palatka, FL
Houston Housing Authority
Jersey City, NJ Housing Authority
Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly
Jonathan Rose Companies
Korman Residential Properties, Inc
LINC Housing Corporation
Mercy Housing, Inc.
Minneapolis Public Housing Authority
National Church Residences
New Bedford Housing Authority
Newark Housing Authority
NHP Foundation
NHT/Enterprise Preservation Corporation
Peabody Properties, Inc.
Presby's Inspired Life
Preservation of Affordable Housing
REACH CDC
Retirement Housing Foundation
Rural Ulster Preservation Company
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Satellite Affordable Housing Associates
Schochet Companies
Tampa Housing Authority
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
TH Real Estate (TIAA)
The Boston Land Company
The Economic Development Authority of the City of Mankato, MN
The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society
The Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver
The Silver Street Group and Housing Management Resources, Inc
The Tower Companies
Trinity Housing Corporation of Greeley, Colorado
Trinity Management
Truth or Consequences Housing Authority
Utica Municipal Housing Authority
Village of Hempstead Housing Authority
VLV Development
Washington, DC Housing Authority
WinnCompanies
Wishrock Investment Group
Yolo County, CA Housing Authority
Angola Housing Authority*
Avon Park Housing Authority*
Cascap, Inc.*
Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corp.*
Danville Development*
Embrace Living Communities*
Gary Housing Authority*
Keene Housing*
Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority*
Manhattan Housing Authority*
New York City Housing Authority*
The City of Hickory Public Housing Authority*
The Renaissance Collaborative*
Vistula Management Company*
*= Junior Partner
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Although "freshman" partners, who had been in the program for less than a year, were not formally included in YoDa, three freshman benchmarking at least 80 percent of their owner-paid receipts (Commonbond Communities, Housing Trust of Rutland County, & Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation) and four freshman partners published data displays (Cambridge, MA Housing Authority, Caritas Communities, Inc., Gateway Management Services, LLC, & King County Housing Authority). Well done, freshman partners, for going above and beyond!
Spotlight on Partner Energy Efficiency Successes
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Cascap achieved 26 percent annual energy savings at Harvard Place by replacing boilers and hot water tanks, upgrading interior lighting, and installing variable speed heat pumps. Cascap funded energy audits and upgrades through Massachussetts' LEAN Multifamily program, along with federal, state, and local funding. Harvard Place became smoke-free at the conclusion of the retrofit, decreasing building maintenance costs and improving resident health.
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Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) obtained a 4-year Jobs Plus grant from HUD to increase green workforce development at two properties with more than 1,400 households. CMHA has also integrated STEM education into the four after-school programs it operates, reaching about 300 students.
Denver Housing Authority formed local and national partnerships to provide STEM programming for nearly 800 residents in the Sun Valley Eco-District, one of HUD's Choice Neighborhoods. The housing authority has worked with local institutions to increase STEM education opportunities for its residents. For example, The Light Industrial Jobs Academy offers training for multiple national certifications geared toward jobs available in the neighborhood.
Tampa Housing Authority (THA) is providing extensive energy efficiency training to residents. The housing authority initiated a community-based social marketing plan to increase residents' knowledge of energy and water efficiency and to teach them to communicate building issues to property managers. THA prepares its residents for the green workforce through a fully-funded apprenticeship program.
Village of Hempstead Housing Authority achieved 40 percent annual energy savings at Gladys Gardens by partnering with the Community Development Corporation of Long Island to conduct an energy audit and implement nearly $380,000 of building upgrades. In addition to energy and cost savings, the property retrofit transformed Gladys Gardens from one of the least desirable public housing developments into a comfortable, healthy community.
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