Innovative Program Reinvests Proceeds from Carbon Offset Purchases to Help Affordable Housing Developments Afford Resiliency, Decarbonization Projects
Our Bureau
New York, NY
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has created a new fund, the GreenHOUSE Fund, to help building owners comply with Local Law 97 while directing critical resources to help rent-regulated apartment buildings and low-income co-ops afford emissions reduction projects. The law — passed by the New York City Council in 2019 — sets increasingly stringent emissions limits for large buildings in New York City but allows those buildings to purchase offset certificates for 10 percent of those limits (effectively, paying for decarbonization efforts in other buildings). This fund — created through a rule set to be proposed shortly by the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) — will take the proceeds from those offset purchases and direct them towards decarbonizing and electrifying affordable housing developments that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them. This will also improve air quality in disadvantaged communities with disproportionately high asthma rates and will move the city and state closer to achieving their respective emissions reduction and equity goals.
Additionally, Mayor Adams has called on the New York City Council to enact the J-51 housing quality tax incentive program — passed this year by the New York state Legislature, with Mayor Adams’ support, and signed into law by New York Governor Kathy Hochul — and to allow buildings to use it to cover Local Law 97 compliance costs. This creative approach would devote significant city resources to help low- and moderate-income multifamily buildings, including many moderate-income co-ops and condos outside of Manhattan, afford the emissions reduction projects that they’d need to implement to meet their Local Law 97 targets.
“Our buildings produce 70 percent of New York City’s emissions, which is why we’re laser-focused on helping buildings electrify, decarbonize, and move forward into the future,” said Mayor Adams. “But we can’t leave anyone behind — particularly our affordable housing developments, which often are located in disadvantaged neighborhoods with high asthma rates. That’s why we’re launching our new GreenHOUSE Fund, to make it more affordable to go green and save green. We’re making sure that we don’t leave anyone behind as we build a greener, cleaner city for working-class New Yorkers.”
“Responding to the climate crisis requires all of us; participation must be within everyone’s financial reach,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “With the GreenHOUSE program, we are making real inroads on the affordability challenge of emissions reduction mandates — not with federal underwriting or an expensive, taxpayer-funded program, but simply by helping one another, an idea as clever as it is simple. The true renewable resources in New York are our collaboration and innovation, and I look forward to this scaling to make New York City the greenest big city in America.”
“Our administration is committed to housing that’s affordable and sustainable,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer. “The GreenHOUSE Fund is an innovative approach to advancing our decarbonization goals while supporting affordable housing projects. I want to thank our partners across the administration for their commitment to building a greener and more affordable city.”
“Most building stakeholders will be able to comply in this first compliance period, but for those who are just slightly over their limits, the offsets will provide a significant benefit to help them avoid penalties, support carbon reduction in affordable housing, and allow them to continue planning for deeper reductions for 2030 and beyond,” said New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner and New York City Chief Climate Officer Rohit T. Aggarwala. “This fund is another resource the Adams administration is providing to help buildings achieve Local Law 97 mobilization under the city’s world-leading Climate Mobilization Act.”
“The creation of the GreenHOUSE Fund in our latest proposed rule provides needed support for building owners as they work towards compliance with their emissions limits,” said DOB Commissioner Jimmy Oddo. “By working across agencies, this innovative program will help reduce carbon emissions from our city, while simultaneously upgrading building systems in our affordable housing stock.”
Under the Adams administration, rulemaking at DOB has continued with an eye towards helping building owners reduce emissions. Last September, Mayor Adams launched “Getting 97 Done,” a comprehensive plan to mobilize the city’s large buildings to reduce their emissions. The plan includes four key elements: identifying and targeting city, state, federal, and utility-based financing and funding for upgrades; providing buildings with needed technical advice, implementing key enforcement mechanisms via a DOB rule package; and decarbonizing central systems in partnership with New York state.
