Multifamily Housing

Multi-family housing (i.e., structures that house two or more dwelling units in a single building, such as town houses, apartment buildings and condominiums) account for one-third of all housing energy and 1/6 of the total energy consumed in California. Demand in this sector is expected to grow by an additional 25% over the next 10 years. Multi-family housing is a high priority sector for the Alliance for several reasons:

• Substantial energy savings and greenhouse gas reductions are achievable within the state’s existing stock of multi-family housing.
• As of 2007, approximately 50% of California’s low-income households - about two million households - live in multifamily dwellings.
• A handful of owners and developers of portfolios of multifamily housing have the ability to effect rapid and cost-effective energy efficiency in thousands of residential units across the State.

The California Sustainability Alliance thus decided to focus its attention on encouraging large real estate owners and managers of existing multifamily housing properties to consider comprehensive portfolio approaches to cost-effectively greening all of their units. Within this section you will find information on opportunities for improved sustainability within the multifamily housing market, challenges to improving sustainability in this sector, and strate gies for overcoming these challenges and providing value to both owners and tenants.

The Alliance’s activities are guided by its Sustainable Communities Pilot Advisory Committee that helps to identify and characterize key barriers, and then to design and implement green multifamily housing pilots. The pilots tackle major barriers to sustainability, advancing strategies and tools to transform this high potential market. Four pilot programs, conducted in partnership with HUD’s Mark-to-Market Green Initiative, LINC Housing Corporation’s Housing Energy Program, BRE Properties, and Folsom/Dore Apartments, are highlighted in the case studies to the left.