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Bringing Home the Benefits of Energy Efficiency to Low-Income Households

A new study by Enterprise Community Partners, Bringing Home the Benefits of Energy Efficiency to Low-Income Households: A Case for a National Commitment, calls for a national commitment to rehabilitate and retrofit low-income housing with energy-efficient features that will offer substantial financial savings for the residents and ensure long-term gains in environmental and energy sustainability.

An estimated 25 million very low-income families in America struggle with increased utility and energy costs due to inefficiently built housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) currently spends more than $4 billion each year to pay utilities in government-assisted properties -- yet the funds only cover a fraction of the families and individuals in need of financial help. In contrast, with an investment of $5 billion annually during a ten-year span to rehabilitate low-income homes, considerable gains can be made in energy savings, carbon reduction and cost savings to the renters and homeowners.

''A national commitment to bring home the benefits of energy efficiency to low-income families in their homes would save families money, cut carbon emissions and create hundreds of thousands of good green jobs, '' said Stockton Williams, senior vice president and chief strategy officer of Enterprise Community Partners. ''A relatively modest federal investment would generate major progress right away.''

Download the complete report at the resource link below.

32 pages (5.1mb); available online as a PDF document at the resource link below.

Resource: http://www.practitionerresources.org/cache/documents/663/66381.pdf

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