Linn County has been awarded a $1 million Environmental Justice Government to Government grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for its Rental Energy Improvement Program.
According to a news release from Linn County, the program helps low to moderate-income renters improve energy efficiency in their homes.
The new program identifies strategies to incentivize rental rehab and energy efficiency upgrades – a need identified by the Alliance for Equitable Housing.
The primary objective of the Linn County Rental Energy Improvement Program is to combat poverty, mitigate climate impacts, and address the effects of environmentally unjust practices.
Linn County will partner with community-based organizations to establish and manage a fund for landlords renting to low-income tenants, targeting households with less than 60-80% of the area median income (AMI). Partner organizations include Matthew 25, the Neighborhood Finance Corporation, and the Linn Clean Energy District.
Matthew 25 will conduct the initial energy audits for participating properties, help to identify potential audit locations, and market the program to environmental justice communities.
The Neighborhood Finance Corporation will support this work by deploying the funding and working with landlords to identify other capital needs to complete improvements to the units; including reviewing bids, verifying tenant income annually to ensure compliance, and ensuring landlord compliance.
And the Linn Clean Energy District will help develop policies to track, record, and report energy usage by tenants, communicate performance metrics to Linn County residents and policymakers, and provide feedback to improve the program.
“This grant is a tremendous endorsement of our commitment to environmental justice, energy efficiency, and collaborative community efforts,” Linn County Sustainability Director Tamara Marcus said in the release. “We are excited about the positive impact the Linn County Rental Energy Improvement Program will have on our community and the strides we are making toward our climate goals.”
The new program offers direct benefits to landlords and renters and provides a framework for sustainable collaboration between Linn County, community-based organizations, and private-sector rental housing owners.
“The community identified improving housing quality, particularly for the rental housing stock, as a top priority,” Linn County Community Outreach & Assistance Director Ashley Balius said. “This grant will offer an excellent opportunity to pilot ways to incentivize energy-efficient upgrades and, more broadly, rental rehabilitation.”
For more information about the Linn County Rental Energy Improvement Program or the Environmental Justice Government to Government grant, please contact the Linn County Sustainability Department at Sustainability@LinnCountyIowa.gov.
