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.
