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 …
ICAST Grows Library of Resources for Driving Green Retrofits in Multifamily Housing
Recommendations for Federal and State Agencies: ICAST has created a dedicated webpage containing resources to help federal and state agencies working to expend their Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding on residential markets, especially income-qualified residents. These resources show how and why programs focused on multifamily housing—specifically, multifamily affordable housing—offer the best solution because they are …
Pulling Federal Investment into Multifamily Housing
By Ravi Malhotra Originally published in NH&RA Tax Credit Advisor, February 2024 Most federal and state agencies aiming to spend their Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds for residential clients are finding out that it will not be easy. Most do not think of multifamily affordable housing when they design their residential programs. In focusing on …
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 …
New Resource to Help Multifamily Affordable Housing Access Funds for Projects
By Ravi Malhotra, Originally published in NH&RA Tax Credit Advisor, January 2024 The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) are providing the best business case ever, for “greening” multifamily affordable housing (MFAH). Between the massive amounts of new funding and the growing pressure to decarbonize your MFAH properties, “business as usual” designs or retrofit solutions are rapidly …
ICAST Project wins Utah Green Project of the Year
Cinnamon Springs has recently been honored with the Green Project of the Year award from the Utah Housing Coalition. This 144-unit “naturally occurring affordable housing” multifamily apartment complex received energy efficiency upgrades that benefited the property owner and significantly improved the living conditions for the residents. Upgrades included new cold-climate heat pumps, new gas furnaces for a “dual fuel” heating …
ICAST Experts Weigh In: Optimizing Health and Energy Solutions for Affordable Housing
Max Wilkinson | Healthy Homes Program Manager Mr. Wilkinson helps design and shepherd ICAST’s efforts to improve home health for tenants in multifamily affordable housing. ICAST’s goal with every multifamily retrofit is to increase home health, safety, comfort, and affordability for low- and moderate-income tenants. We have a custom, whole-building approach—in other words, we identify and deliver the best solutions …
ICAST Experts Weigh In: 2023 Trends and What to Watch for in 2024
Ryan Kristoff | Director of Grant Programs Mr. Kristoff grows the organization by securing the funding and partnerships necessary to build new programs, expand to new geographies, and add services to its one-stop shop. THE 30,000-FOOT VIEW Unsurprisingly, ICAST’s 2023 has primarily focused on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). We have been collaborating with federal …
Clean Energy Projects: Looking Ahead to 2024
Clean Energy Projects: Looking Ahead to 2024 By Ravi Malhotra, Originally published in NH&RA Tax Credit Advisor, December 2023 At the close of 2023, it’s a certainty that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) are catalyzing a huge uptick in clean energy projects across the United States. Unfortunately, it’s equally certain that the multifamily affordable …
ICAST Sets New Record for Its Heat Pump Work with Rocky Mountain Power
ICAST is pleased to announce that in September, it processed over 1,000 multifamily heat pump rebates for Rocky Mountain Power (RMP), thus setting a new monthly record. ICAST has managed RMP’s custom multifamily program in Utah since its launch in 2018, and this program is one of the nation’s most successful for electrification in multifamily properties. It covers the entire …