Commercial PACE for Multifamily Affordable Housing

Since 2009, more than 30 states have enacted Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) legislation, an innovative tool that commercial, industrial and multifamily property owners can use to secure affordable, long-term financing for energy upgrades to their buildings. C-PACE has taken off in the past year with dollar usage more than doubling since 2016, enabling over 1000 commercial buildings across the country to secure more than $450 million in financing from this program. However, few owners in the affordable multifamily housing sector have taken advantage of C-PACE. This report seeks to understand whether there is an opportunity for C-PACE to fill a gap in financing energy efficiency in the affordable multifamily buildings sector and if so, what are the best practices for ensuring this financing mechanism benefits affordable multifamily stakeholders.