Old public housing photo

The Inflation Reduction Act’s and the Multifamily Affordable Housing Market’s Future

By Ravi Malhotra Originally posted in Tax Credit Advisor, January 2025 After the 2024 elections, many in the multifamily affordable housing sector worry that key Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds may be clawed back by the incoming administration. These funds provide tax credits, grants and other forms of incentives for green and clean energy deployment and have been crucial to closing …

Multifamily Housing and the Better Buildings 2024 Progress Report

The US Dept. of Energy (DOE) recently released its 2024 Progress Report for the Better Buildings initiative—an annual publication that highlights the achievements of the initiative and its partners by sector. The Better Buildings initiative (BB) aims to improve energy efficiency and advance decarbonization across the nation’s various building sectors. BB helps organizations reduce their energy use, lower operational costs, …

Funding for Green Retrofits

By Ravi Malhotra Originally posted in Tax Credit Advisor, October 2024 Federal Tax Credits, Rebates, Low-Cost or Forgivable Loans, and Grants are Hitting the Ground The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) are in their second and third years, respectively. Treasury guidance is now available for almost all of the IRA’s clean energy tax credit provisions. Furthermore, …

Solar for Multifamily

By Ravi Malhotra Originally published in NH&RA’s Tax Credit Advisor Magazine Federal Funds for Multifamily Solar Projects En Route The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is expected to fund approximately $1 trillion in tax credits for clean energy. A significant portion of the funding is for the solar investment tax credits (ITC)—the base ITC was expanded to 30% and multifamily affordable …

Building Decarb Update: Some Highlights at the Federal Level

In June, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced its National Definition of a Zero Emissions Building. It was finalized after receiving feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders. Part 1 of the Definition (Operational Emissions from Energy Use) sets criteria for a building with zero emissions from energy used for building operations. It applies to …

How Programs Can Navigate Aggressive Change to Achieve Deep Energy Savings in Multifamily

Rapid market, regulatory, and policy evolutions are creating opportunities for utilities to coordinate with key stakeholders to identify and harness untapped methods of achieving their program goals. The U.S. is beginning to see a slow transition away from natural gas-based efficiency measures as electrification has emerged as a leading decarbonization strategy and a growing pathway for utility energy efficiency programs. …

Tapping Grants, Loans, and Incentives to Cut Project Costs

by Ravi Malhotra How should the multifamily affordable housing market ensure it maximizes its benefits from the various federal, state, and local government resources on offer? Government programs typically do not consider or emphasize strategic and meaningful leveraging and collaboration with other programs, much less provide valuable guidance to do so. The lack of coordination within and between agencies and …

Clean Energy for All: Optimizing Beneficial Electrification for Customers

Originally published in AESP’s Energy Intel Magazine – Q4 2023 Issue “Beneficial electrification” involves transitioning customers away from energy-inefficient and harmful appliances such as gas- and propane-based HVAC, water heaters, cook stoves, and clothes dryers (and even resistance electric systems), to better, high-efficiency, solutions such as heat pump HVAC and Water heaters and induction cook stoves. While this can reduce …

Heat Pump being repaired

Electrification Upgrades

A New Generation of Heat Pump Systems Increases Efficiency By Ravi Malhotra Tax Credit Advisor, July 2023 More and more states have regulations and mandates requiring multifamily affordable housing properties to decarbonize (i.e., replace the use of natural gas, oil, or propane with electricity). This can be accomplished by upgrading systems for space and water heating. Electric heat pumps are …

Solar panels renewable energy efficiency money savings

Pursuing Green Projects: How Multifamily Affordable Housing Can Benefit from the IRA and BIL

Pursuing Green Projects: How Multifamily Affordable Housing Can Benefit from the IRA and BIL  by Ravi Malhotra National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, February 2023 The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) dramatically expand opportunities for multifamily affordable housing to pursue green projects via cash rebates, tax credits and other incentives. The IRA is by far the largest investment in …