I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5004 

To improve the energy efficiency of multifamily housing in the United States, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 26, 2014 

Mr. HIMES (for himself, Mr. DELANEY, Mr. WELCH, and Mr. CARTWRIGHT) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To improve the energy efficiency of multifamily housing in 

the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Multifamily Housing 

5 Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENERGY SAV7 INGS IMPROVEMENTS AND MORTGAGE PER8 FORMANCE. 

9 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

10 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing 


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1 and Urban Development, in coordination with the Director 

2 of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and in consulta3 tion with the Secretary of Energy, shall commence a study 

4 to analyze the relationship between energy savings im5 provements to homes and buildings, utility and energy ex6 penses, and mortgage performance, which shall include an 

7 analysis of— 

8 (1) the likely increase in value of homes or 

9 buildings from energy savings improvements; 

10 (2) the effect of energy savings improvements 

11 on mortgage default rates; and 

12 (3) the risks of financing energy savings im13 provements through property assessments and the 

14 risks associated with providing energy efficiency 

15 products with senior liens on buildings or homes. 

16 (b) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—In conducting 

17 the study required under subsection (a), the Secretary 

18 shall ensure that data shared with any third-party or pub19 lished does not contain any personally identifiable infor20 mation. 

21 (c) PUBLICATION.—Not later than one year after the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Hous23 ing and Urban Development shall— 

24 (1) publish the results of the study required 

25 under subsection (a) on the publicly available 


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1 website of the Department of Housing and Urban 

2 Development; and 

3 (2) submit a report regarding the results of the 

4 study required under subsection (a) to the Com5 mittee on Financial Services of the House of Rep6 resentatives and the Committee on Banking, Hous7 ing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate. 

8 (d) EVALUATION.—Not later than 12 months after 

9 the completion of the study required by subsection (a), the 

10 Secretary and the Director of the Federal Housing Fi11 nance Agency shall evaluate departmental procedures and 

12 policies to assess if they accurately reflect the energy ex13 penses and benefits of energy savings improvements for 

14 homeowners and building owners. 

15 SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENTS TO EXISTING MULTIFAMILY HOUS16 ING ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS. 

17 (a) GREEN REFINANCING.—Section 223 of the Na18 tional Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715n) is amended by add19 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

20 ‘‘(h) GREEN REFINANCING.—The Secretary shall, by 

21 regulation, establish a green refinancing program for mul22 tifamily housing projects insured under subsection (f) 

23 under which any dollar amount limitations which would 

24 otherwise apply with respect to a project may be increased 

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1 servation measures for the project, but the Secretary shall 

2 only insure residential energy conservation measures pur3 suant to this subsection if the Secretary verifies that— 

4 ‘‘(1) a third-party assessment procured by the 

5 lender or borrower has been conducted of the 

6 project’s physical needs, including an energy audit 

7 and identification of cost-effective opportunities for 

8 increasing energy and water efficiency and achieving 

9 a reduction in energy and water costs, and such as10 sessment indicates that such energy conservation 

11 measures will be cost-effective over the life of the 

12 conservation measure; and 

13 ‘‘(2) such energy conservation measures will be 

14 verified and monitored over the life of the mortgage, 

15 using such method as the Secretary determines ap16 propriate. 

17 For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘energy con18 servation measure’ has the meaning given such term in 

19 section 221(k)(3) (12 U.S.C. 1715l(k)(3)).’’. 

20 (b) VERIFICATION OF COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF

21 RESIDENTIAL ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES.— 

22 Subsection (k) of section 221 of the National Housing Act 

23 (12 U.S.C. 1715l(k)) is amended— 

24 (1) by striking ‘‘and will be cost-effective over 

25 the life of the measure’’; 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘(k) With respect to any 

2 project’’ and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(k) FINANCING OF SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS AND

4 RESIDENTIAL ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES.— 

5 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

6 with respect to any project’’; and 

7 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

8 paragraphs: 

9 ‘‘(2) VERIFICATION REGARDING RESIDENTIAL

10 ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES.—The Secretary 

11 may increase the dollar amount limitations pursuant 

12 to paragraph (1) with respect to a project due to 

13 residential energy conservation measures for the 

14 project only if the Secretary— 

15 ‘‘(A) verifies that in the case of a mortgage 

16 insured under this section financing new con17 struction of the project, such measures will be 

18 cost-effective over the life of the measures; 

19 ‘‘(B) in the case of a mortgage insured 

20 under this section financing repair and rehabili21 tation of the project, verifies that a third-party 

22 assessment procured by the lender or borrower 

23 has been conducted of the project’s physical 

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1 ing energy and water efficiency and achieving a 

2 reduction in energy and water costs, and such 

3 assessment indicates that the energy conserva4 tion measures to be installed will be cost-effec5 tive over the life of the measures; and 

6 ‘‘(C) ensures that the project is provided 

7 information that will enable the project to verify 

8 and monitor the energy savings achieved by the 

9 energy conservation measures on a voluntary 

10 basis. 

11 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION OF ENERGY CONSERVATION

12 MEASURE.—For purposes of this subsection, the 

13 term ‘energy conservation measure’ means, with re14 spect to a project, any measure that will result in a 

15 reduction in energy, water, or gas consumption for 

16 the project.’’. 

17 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

18 (1) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary of Housing and 

19 Urban Development shall issue guidance to imple20 ment the amendments made by this section not later 

21 than the expiration of the 12-month period begin22 ning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

23 (2) ANNUAL REPORT ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY

24 IMPROVEMENTS.—The Secretary of Housing and 

25 Urban Development shall, on an annual basis, make 


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1 available on a publicly available website of the De2 partment a report describing the implementation of 

3 the amendments made by this section and the pro4 grams for financing residential energy conservation 

5 measures under sections 221(k) and 223(h) of the 

6 National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715l(k), 

7 1715n(h)) as amended by such amendments. 

8 SEC. 4. MULTIFAMILY HOUSING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN9 NOVATION. 

10 (a) MULTIFAMILY HOUSING ENERGY INNOVATION

11 PLAN.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop12 ment shall carry out a program to be known as the Multi13 family Housing Energy Innovation Plan to make grants 

14 to eligible entities to establish or expand an energy savings 

15 plan that uses innovative approaches to reduce energy, 

16 water, and/or gas consumption in multifamily housing. 

17 (b) SUBMISSION AND SELECTION OF MULTIFAMILY

18 HOUSING ENERGY INNOVATION PLANS.— 

19 (1) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

20 grant under this section, an eligible entity shall sub21 mit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 

22 such manner, and containing such information as 

23 the Secretary may require, which shall include— 

24 (A) a description of the energy savings 

25 plan established or expanded using amounts 


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1 from a grant under this section that includes 

2 goals of the plan, use of grant funds, and the 

3 anticipated outcome of the plan; 

4 (B) the amount of grant funds needed for 

5 such plan and the amount and sources of other 

6 funding, including matching funds required 

7 under subsection (d)(1); and 

8 (C) a description of how implementing 

9 such plan will comply with the energy savings 

10 requirement under subsection (c)(2). 

11 (2) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall establish 

12 criteria for selection of applications submitted under 

13 paragraph (1) to receive grants under this section 

14 and shall select eligible entities to receive grants 

15 based on such criteria. Such criteria shall be based 

16 upon— 

17 (A) the relevant experience and capacity of 

18 the eligible entity to carry out the energy sav19 ings plan to be assisted with grant amounts and 

20 to achieve the stated goals of such plan; 

21 (B) the extent to which such plan provides 

22 an innovative approach to reducing energy con23 sumption in multifamily housing; 

24 (C) the ability of such plan to be replicated 

25 by others; and 


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1 (D) such other factors as the Secretary de2 termines to be appropriate. 

3 (3) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

4 section, the Secretary shall give priority to applica5 tions based on— 

6 (A) the extent of funding for the energy 

7 savings plan secured by the eligible entity from 

8 private, nonprofit, or government sources in ad9 dition to the matching funds required under 

10 subsection (d)(1); 

11 (B) the extent of the proposed benefit of 

12 the energy savings plan to low-income families; 

13 and 

14 (C) the extent to which the energy savings 

15 plan would reduce budgetary expenses for the 

16 Department of Housing and Urban Develop17 ment. 

18 (c) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.— 

19 (1) ELIGIBLE ENERGY SAVINGS PLANS.— 

20 Amounts from grants under this section may be 

21 used only for energy savings plans that— 

22 (A) are financing demonstrations for mul23 tifamily housing, including for financing 

24 through credit enhancements, revolving loan 

25 funds, loan loss reserves, interest rate subsidies, 


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1 loan insurance, or other financing methods ap2 proved by the Secretary; 

3 (B) create green jobs, including in the 

4 fields of construction, property management, 

5 and technical analysis, that directly promote the 

6 adoption of energy savings measures in multi7 family housing, including energy savings plans 

8 that create green jobs for low-income families; 

9 (C) acquire and analyze data on the costs, 

10 benefits, challenges, and opportunities associ11 ated with retrofitting multifamily housing for 

12 energy efficiency; or 

13 (D) research and implement a demonstra14 tion project that— 

15 (i) creates retrofit or repair strategies 

16 that use readily available technologies to 

17 reduce or increase the efficiency of energy, 

18 water, and gas consumption that are not 

19 typically used for multifamily housing; 

20 (ii) addresses the split incentive prob21 lem, including implementing changes to 

22 methods for utility metering in multifamily 

23 housing; 

24 (iii) creates a system for 

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1 ergy consumption statistics for multifamily 

2 housing; or 

3 (iv) achieves another goal as approved 

4 by the Secretary. 

5 (2) ENERGY SAVINGS REQUIREMENT.— 

6 Amounts from a grant under this section may be 

7 used only to carry out an energy savings plan de8 scribed in paragraph (1) that will result in at least 

9 a 20-percent reduction in the energy, water, or gas 

10 consumption of multifamily housing and a descrip11 tion of the methodology to be used to compute the 

12 reduction in energy consumption. 

13 (d) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 

14 (1) MATCHING FUNDS.—An eligible entity that 

15 receives a grant under this section shall contribute 

16 towards the energy savings plan amounts from pri17 vate, nonprofit, or government sources that are not 

18 less than the amount of the grant. 

19 (2) DURATION.—Grants shall be awarded for a 

20 period not to exceed 24 months. 

21 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY REPORT.—Not later than 

22 12 months after the date on which the grant period 

23 of an eligible entity that received a grant under this 

24 section ends, each such eligible entity shall submit to 

25 the Secretary a report on the performance of energy 


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1 savings plans carried out pursuant to this section 

2 that shall contain such information as the Secretary 

3 shall require. 

4 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the following defi5 nitions shall apply: 

6 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti7 ty’’ means a partnership between 2 or more of the 

8 following entities: 

9 (A) A State or unit of local government. 

10 (B) A provider of utility services. 

11 (C) A community housing development or12 ganization as defined in section 104 of the 

13 Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Hous14 ing Act (42 U.S.C. 12704). 

15 (D) A public housing agency as defined in 

16 section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act 

17 of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 

18 (E) A non-profit or for-profit entity whose 

19 primary business is management of multifamily 

20 housing. 

21 (2) ENERGY SAVINGS PLAN.—The term ‘‘energy 

22 savings plan’’ means a program, project, or activity 

23 for energy savings or water and gas efficiency in 

24 multifamily housing. 


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1 (3) LOW-INCOME FAMILIES.—The term ‘‘low-in2 come families’’ has the meaning given that term in 

3 section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 

4 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 

5 (4) MULTIFAMILY HOUSING.—The term ‘‘multi6 family housing’’ means a residence consisting of 5 or 

7 more dwelling units. 

8 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

9 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

10 (6) SPLIT INCENTIVE PROBLEM.—The term 

11 ‘‘split incentive problem’’ means, with respect to 

12 multifamily housing, a situation in which— 

13 (A) the occupant of a dwelling unit in the 

14 housing does not pay for energy, water, or gas 

15 consumption for such unit and is not 

16 incentivized to implement an energy savings 

17 measure; or 

18 (B) the owner does not pay for energy, 

19 water, or gas consumption for dwelling units in 

20 the housing and is not incentivized to imple21 ment an energy savings measure. 

22 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

23 the several States, the District of Columbia, and any 

24 territory or possession of the United States. 


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1 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 

3 $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2015, $20,000,000 for fiscal 

4 year 2016, $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2017, and 

5 $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2018 to carry out this section. 

6 SEC. 5. GREEN PRESERVATION EXPANSION. 

7 During the 5-year period beginning on the date of 

8 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and 

9 Urban Development may waive any statutory or regu10 latory requirement regarding the eligibility of multifamily 

11 properties for an existing risk-sharing agreement entered 

12 into under section 542 of the Housing and Community 

13 Development Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 1715z–22), but only 

14 if such waiver facilitates the adoption of energy or water 

15 conservation measures in such properties. 

Æ 


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