Written Testimony Submitted to the Connecticut General Assembly Housing Committee in Support of Proposed Bill 356: An Act Establishing an Energy Efficiency Retrofit Grant Program for Affordable Housing.
March 4, 2021
To the Honorable Co-Chairs Senator Rick Lopes and Representative Brandon L. McGee, Vice Chairs, Ranking Members, and distinguished members of the Housing Committee:
We are writing from the Collaborative Center for Justice, a Hartford-based social justice organization sponsored by six communities of Catholic women religious across Connecticut. We advocate for systemic change and educate individuals about justice issues in order to improve the lives of low-income and marginalized people. We are members of CT Renews, a coalition of environmental justice, faith, labor, and community groups working on supporting legislation to build a more just, equitable, and sustainable Connecticut.
We write in strong support of SB 356: An Act Establishing an Energy Efficiency Retrofit Grant Program for Affordable Housing. This bill has many important benefits, including reducing energy consumption and costs, improving living conditions for residents, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and creating good, local jobs.
As people of faith, we are concerned about the climate crisis and environmental justice. In order to meet the state’s critical climate mandates of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and by 80% by 2050, we will need to drastically increase energy efficiency in our existing housing stock. A comprehensive energy efficiency retrofit program like the one proposed in this legislation would be a critical component of meeting this goal. The proposed program should seek to work in connection with existing programs in order to remove barriers to weatherization and energy efficiency and increase access to these retrofits.
Focusing on existing low-income housing is necessary to create an equitable transition to greater energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energy such as solar panels. Low-income communities and communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by air pollution and the effects of climate change. Efforts to address these issues should be focused first in the communities that have been most impacted, and people in these communities should have a meaningful seat at the table throughout the process where their voices and expertise are valued.
We are also urgently concerned about the health, safety, and wellbeing of all people, and particularly low-income and vulnerable people. Remediation of health and safety issues in affordable housing units should remain a central part of this legislation. Up to 30% of low- and moderate – income households in the state have one or more health or safety issues present in their housing, such as mold, asbestos, or knob-and-tube wiring.1 We believe that every person has the right to live a life of dignity, and health hazards such as these impede the realization of this right. Not only do these health and safety issues impact the wellbeing of the residents, but they also become barriers to energy efficiency and weatherization efforts. This bill would establish a commitment to addressing these pressing issues, which would improve the living conditions for residents both by removing health hazards and by removing barriers to pursue weatherization and energy efficiency.
Individuals living in the low-income communities where the retrofit work is being completed should be prioritized for the jobs associated with the retrofit program and should have access to any necessary training for those jobs. Residents of environmental justice communities should be able to participate in the workforce to transform the community’s housing stock, and should be provided with fair wages and labor protections. Concentrating jobs within these communities will also bring economic benefits to the local economy. According to a report by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, investments in the energy efficiency workforce translate to the highest return on investment of any green job.2
We have a few suggested modifications to the bill. The program should include protections for renters so that the rental price is not raised for a period of time after the unit is renovated. Similarly, the legislature should consider guidelines to protect the low-income housing stock so that upgraded units continue to be available as low-income housing units. Without these two provisions, the program risks contributing to gentrification rather than to improving housing conditions and energy costs for existing and future LMI tenants.
We also would suggest changing the income eligibility to align with the state’s low- and moderate-income (LMI) guidelines to determine eligible households. Additionally, we would recommend that the program include a verification process to ensure that the grant funded projects are adequately completed in a timely manner.
It is worth noting that Connecticut Renews is a part of a regional effort, and the Massachusetts Renews coalition is also working on a comprehensive housing retrofit bill in the Massachusetts legislature. Their bill aims to retrofit 1 million homes within 10 years. Connecticut should also be a leader in the work to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy costs, and create good, local jobs by investing in retrofits in low-income communities.
A comprehensive retrofits program will have important economic and climate benefits for the state, will improve public health, and will improve the quality of our affordable housing stock.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony in support of SB 356: An Act Establishing an Energy Efficiency Retrofit Grant Program for Affordable Housing. We urge the committee to advance this bill.
Respectfully submitted,
Dwayne David Paul – Director
Rachel Lea Scott, MSW – Associate Director
