Climate + Energy Policy
LISC is committed to supporting an equitable, scalable transition to a carbon free future. Toward that end, LISC’s recent policy work has focused on driving adequate resources to the community development field for building decarbonization efforts, as well as incentives and training for Passive House, a high performance energy standard with measurable health benefits.
LISC is a proud member of the Zero Carbon Renovation Fund Coalition, which is a coalition made up of over 200 organizations and coalitions, representing 80,000 units of affordable housing, and working at the intersection of housing justice, education, climate, and environmental justice.
We are proud to announce that Passive House incentives and trainings are now available through our statewide energy efficiency program (Mass Save), which will help the affordable housing sector drive this promising practice.
More broadly, LISC has engaged in extensive collaborative policy advocacy work with state housing finance agencies, utilities, program administrators, owners, umbrella advocacy groups and other partners to achieve the following:
- Helping to structure a statewide low-income multifamily utility energy efficiency program (LEAN LIMF) in MA and building demand among multifamily affordable housing owners;
- Encouraging the LEAN program to commit to improvements, including providing completed energy assessments to owners, providing incentive commitments six months in advance of a project’s planned rehab, accepting third party comprehensive energy audits as a basis of decision-making, and allowing owners to use their own general contractor for LEAN work;
- Collaborating with utilities and state housing finance agencies to create an Energy Efficiency Roadmap for owners whose projects are approaching a planned rehab.
- Successfully advocating for battery storage as an eligible energy efficiency measure.
While significant program and process reforms have been achieved, much opportunity remains to drive policy improvements and institutionalize promising practices in the sector. LISC looks forward to continuing to collaborate closely with all stakeholders involved, including owners, lenders, state housing/energy/clean energy agencies, and utilities.
