Why isn’t the Obama team trying harder to save the promising PACE clean-energy model?
Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have essentially quashed Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs, which have been launched in local communities around the U.S. to make green improvements more affordable to homeowners. The Obama administration has taken modest measures to help out, but it hasn’t put its top people on the case. If it did, there’s reason to think PACE could be quickly restored.
I commend Sonoma County for its leadership and continued commitment to innovative energy efficiency programs that benefit the community and the environment (“Sonoma fights feds to save home energy loans,” July 29).
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/03/ED8Q1EMM3U.DTL#ixzz0wFMJXMbk
Early this month, the Federal Housing Finance Agency took PACE to task for a lack of performance and underwriting standards.
The fear was that PACE financing is too unproven to be given priority over mortgage loans.
Because the agency regulates government mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, its words carry big clout. As a result, many of the PACE programs taking root in 23 states came to a halt.
Read more: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/paces-respectable-track-record/
UPDATE: Please click the link below to see the slides from the webinar:
http://www.icleiusa.org/blog/archive/2010/07/29/pace-webinar-takeaway-keep-up-the-pressure-on-feds
PACE Update
- Tuesday, July 27th from 2:00 to 3:00 pm EST.
Please join ICLEI USA to find out the latest developments in the fight
to Save PACE financing and to learn how you can get involved. The
webinar will: describe Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing
and what the mortgage giants Freddie and Fannie have done to attack
PACE; cover how local governments like Sonoma County are moving
forward with PACE programs in the face of uncertainty, dive into
what’s happening with PACE on Capitol Hill, and finally end with what
you can do to take action to save PACE.
The expert panel includes:
• Cisco DeVries, President; Renewable Funding, LLC
• Martin Chavez, Executive Director; ICLEI – Local Governments
for Sustainability USA
• John Haig, Energy and Sustainability Director; Sonoma County, California
• Brad Penney, Director of Government Relations; Alliance to Save Energy
To Register: http://www.icleiusa.org/news-events/pace-update-webinar
Background:
Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, one of the most
powerful financing mechanisms for deploying efficiency and renewables
at scale, has recently become a hotly debated topic and one fraught
with confusion. PACE programs are a way for local governments to
provide homeowners and local businesses with a financing option for
building retrofits and renewable installations. The cost is assessed
as a lien on the property and paid back over a fixed period. After
the Obama administration invested $150 million into jumpstarting PACE
programs across the nation, FHFA, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae issued
letters stating that they would not purchase mortgages linked to
properties that also have senior PACE liens. Given the size and
importance of these entities, the letters dealt a real blow to any
homeowner who seeks to take advantage of a local PACE program and,
thus, has essentially frozen residential PACE programs offered by
local governments and the $150 million dollar investment through the
Recovery Act.
Both the House and Senate are working towards a resolution for PACE,
but with little time left on the legislative calendar this session it
is imperitive that Congress hear voices that support main street
innovation, job creation, and sustainable economic development as oil
washes up on our beaches and our economy struggles to recover.
During Florida‘s 2010 legislative session, Republicans andDemocrats in Tallahassee joined together to authorize a new kind of financing program for energy retrofits on residential and commercial properties.
Called Property Assessed Clean Energy — or PACE — these are city and county-run programs that enable property owners to invest in new energy technologies without taxpayer subsidies. More than 12 Florida cities, and several counties, have already started developing their own PACE programs to support energy bill savings, green job growth, and the foundations of a new energy economy in their communities. But before PACE has even had a chance to get off the ground, hostile action from a rogue federal agency has threatened these promising programs.
