Increased Capacity Builds Sustainable Communities: Why technical assistance is essential to advance clean energy in affordable housing

Affordable housing providers don't need convincing on clean energy; they need capacity. Recently, National Housing Trust (NHT) wrapped up a six-month program with Maryland's multifamily owners to help them prepare for the state's Building Energy Performance Standards, pairing a seven-part webinar series with one-on-one technical assistance from Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future and New Ecology, Inc. Every participant was mission-driven and eager to cut energy costs, improve resident health, and meet BEPS, yet the same barriers kept surfacing: teams stretched thin by day-to-day operations, upfront costs that don't pencil out on tight budgets, incentives that skip the critical predevelopment work, and regulations that mandate outcomes without offering a roadmap. That experience in Maryland isn't an outlier. It's the national reality for affordable housing, and it's why expanding targeted technical assistance is essential if we want clean energy to reach the communities that need it most. Specifically, we must address the following challenges:

• Capacity. Property teams are managing operations, turnover, and compliance, not energy modeling or long-term decarbonization planning.
• Expertise. Few have in-house staff who can scope electrification or translate BEPS into a capital plan.
• Timing of funding. Incentives pay for equipment, but rarely for the audits, electrical assessments, and planning that must come first.
• Program Navigation. Housing, energy, and utility programs operate separately, forcing owners to stitch together conflicting requirements.

Fortunately, there are practical solutions that state and local agencies can adopt to build housing providers' capacity to implement clean energy and other sustainability measures at their properties. 

1. Expand Technical Assistance and Compliance Services

In affordable housing, property managers and owners are stretched thin by the demands of daily operations, and few have the specialized knowledge needed to identify and pursue clean energy opportunities that make sense for their buildings. 

To ensure low-income communities can benefit from clean energy investments, technical assistance services must be designed to directly address these capacity constraints. This support should include:

• Developing project scopes of work to ensure recommended measures align with building conditions and maximize energy savings;
• Connecting providers with auditors and contractors who understand regulatory and code requirements, such as BEPS, to support compliance;
• Identifying funding sources and financing tools to move projects forward; and
• Providing educational resources and best practices that can be shared with on-site maintenance staff and residents.  

This type of targeted technical assistance can be made available in many forms from on-demand online resource hubs to individualized support like what was offered through our Maryland program. Other industry examples include:

• Colorado’s Multifamily Affordable Housing Electrification Hub technical roadmap helps building owners navigate through the complexity of adopting electric technologies and appliances in both new construction and existing buildings. The Hub also includes electrification case studies from across the state and a searchable database to identify financing and incentive opportunities. 
• Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources’ Affordable Housing Decarbonization Technical Assistance Program provides no-cost support to affordable housing providers transitioning their buildings to highly efficient, all-electric properties. DOER’s program includes a scoping study to assess decarbonization opportunities, provides property-specific decarbonization strategies, and identifies potential funding sources to carry our decarbonization recommendations.
• The Building Energy Exchange (BE-Ex) offers building owners in New York City an in-person hub with rotating exhibits that highlight energy and lighting efficiency solutions. The Exchange also hosts technology demonstrations, case studies, and on-demand trainings. 

Benchmarking 

Technical assistance should also include benchmarking and data analysis support so owners can understand how their buildings are performing and determine appropriate next steps to reduce emissions and operating costs. As part of our capacity building program, we assisted housing providers in uploading their properties into ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM). This process revealed numerous challenges, from collecting utility data to uploading and interpreting it. For first-time users, ESPM can be confusing, and depending on state benchmarking requirements and utility data-sharing restrictions, connecting meters to state reporting portals can be both complex and time-consuming. Targeted technical assistance can help owners navigate these hurdles, successfully benchmark their buildings, and translate data into action plans. In Minnesota, the Large Building Energy Benchmarking program offers help desk services to encourage owners to incorporate energy conservation measures into their buildings. This program built off the success of the City of Saint Paul’s Energize Saint Paul initiative which provided benchmarking technical support and education resources to multifamily building owners.

2. Increase Incentives to Support Audits and Other Assessments

In addition to building out technical assistance services, states and jurisdictions must increase funding to support clean energy implementation. While additional capital for energy-saving and decarbonization measures is always needed, there is a particularly significant gap in funding for predevelopment activities, especially energy audits and assessments. Predevelopment incentives should be designed to target energy audits that identify cost-effective efficiency measures, electrical capacity assessments to support realistic electrification planning, and Zero-Over-Time (ZOT) planning to guide long-term decarbonization and regulatory compliance.

Several states already offer programs that support these early-stage activities, including:

• The Washington Department of Commerce Multifamily Efficiency Grants Program supports energy management and planning activities like energy audits and operations and maintenance planning, and decarbonization and energy retrofit activities including fuel-switching measures and building envelope improvements.
• Massachusetts Housing Partnership’s Green Retrofit Financing Program offers increased loan proceeds, reimbursements towards decarbonization assessments, and reduced interest rates for multifamily projects undergoing refinancing and retrofits that invest in substantial energy use and carbon emission improvements.
• Iowa’s Economic Development and Finance Authority Multifamily Energy Audit Program provides grant funds to complete energy audits and improve lighting and energy efficiency in multifamily buildings. While participants must provide a 50% cost share, projects that implement audit-recommended upgrades may be reimbursed for their cost share and may qualify for 0% interest financing through the Iowa Energy Saving Loan Program.

3. Inter-Agency Coordination to Support Capacity 

While not directly related to technical assistance, state and local agency coordination promotes capacity building and reduces burdens placed on affordable housing. Housing and energy offices administer programs and enforce regulatory requirements that impact affordable housing but rarely work together to ensure those programs accommodate the realities of affordable housing development and operation. Conflicting requirements, repetitive applications, and misaligned timelines can deter housing providers from participating in programs altogether. When agencies align their programs and policies, this leads to more streamlined and accessible funding opportunities that lower the administrative burden on developers, better support state goals and efforts, and allow for a more targeted approach to reach the communities most in need of support. 

New York is a leading state of inter-agency coordination. New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) have partnered together through the state’s Clean Energy Initiative which combines utility ratepayer dollars and affordable housing subsidy dollars to fund highly efficient, all-electric retrofits. The fund is administered by HCR and does not require developers to submit a separate application to NYSERDA.

In Maryland, the state’s housing and community development agency and environmental regulatory agency also successfully work together to advance clean energy initiatives. Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) administers the state’s Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) runs the Greenhouse Gas Reduction program (GHGRP) that helps BEPS-covered properties meet compliance requirements. This collaboration draws on DHCD’s experience administering multifamily affordable housing finance programs while aligning program requirements with MDE’s regulatory standards, streamlining funding and compliance steps for building owners.

4. Create Opportunities for Peer Exchange 

An essential component of our capacity building program in Maryland was the emphasis on peer exchange. Peer exchange creates space for learning and problem-solving that technical assistance on its own doesn’t offer. This type of engagement leads to more credible recommendations, creative solutions, a greater sense of community, and more effective policy advocacy. 

States and jurisdictions can support peer exchange by establishing working groups that focus on relevant topics, host in-person convenings at industry conferences, disseminate resources captured from peer exchange in online resource hubs, and make peer exchange a component of their funding programs. 

For example, the California Housing Partnership brings together nonprofit affordable housing owners and public housing authorities to identify creative ways to finance energy retrofits and clean energy improvements and offers technical assistance on programs like solar PV, all-electric building design, and fuel switching.

Conclusion

Increased capacity building is essential to advance clean energy measures in affordable housing. Without targeted support from state and local agencies, housing providers risk falling behind on compliance requirements, missing out on critical funding opportunities, and facing capital costs that threaten long-term property stability and affordability. Expanding technical assistance services, strengthening financial incentives, improving inter-agency coordination, and investing in peer exchange are necessary to ensure housing providers have the right tools, resources, and partnerships to support long-term property stabilization and affordability. 

To learn more about NHT’s technical assistance services, connect with our Policy team.