- Home
- Agencies
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- General Services Administration
- Department of Commerce
- Department of the Interior
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Department of Defense
- Department of Justice
- National Science Foundation
- Department of Education
- Department of Labor
- Office of Personnel Management
- Department of Energy
- Department of State
- Small Business Administration
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Department of Transportation
- Social Security Administration
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of the Treasury
- U.S. Agency for International Development
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Goals
- Initiatives
- Programs
Primary tabs
FY 14-15: Agency Priority Goal
Increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation's housing stock.
Priority Goal
Goal Overview
HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.[1] HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector.
Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, injuries, and other housing-related health hazards. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with completed energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects in more than 460,000 housing units.
From 2014–2018, HUD aims to continue to focus on energy and health investments in the residential sector, both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing, to support the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and raise the bar on codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing.
The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make require lead hazard reduction measures in housing being assisted. With funding for Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2015, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Program (HOME) experiencing significant reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2015 and 2016 is expected to decrease.
[1] EPA 2013
Strategies
Boost Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
- Strengthen HUD’s programs and policies to meet the President’s goal of cutting energy waste in half by 2030 in new and existing HUD-assisted housing. This includes continuing to update energy codes and standards; implementing a green Physical Needs Assessment (PNA) in public housing and an analogous Capital Needs Assessment e-tool in multifamily housing, supporting the adoption of comprehensive utility benchmarking protocols across HUD’s portfolio, and addressing energy efficiency through FHA single family and multifamily mortgage insurance programs. This strategy will help HUD stakeholders reduce energy consumption and improve building performance. This will be accomplished through voluntary efforts such as the Better Buildings Challenge, partnerships with DOE, EPA, USDA and other federal agencies, and leveraging HUD’s Technical Assistance (TA) resources.
- Implement national partnerships to triple the amount of on-site renewable energy across the federally assisted housing stock by 2020. This joint effort of HUD, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Treasury Department will for the first time focus on solar and renewable energy in federally-assisted housing, by implementing a key goal of the President’s Climate Action Plan, to reach 100 megawatts–equivalent to the energy used by over 30,000 homes –of on-site renewable energy in federally assisted housing.
- Overcome barriers to leveraging private sector and other innovative sources of capital for energy efficiency and renewable energy investments. HUD, in concert with other federal and state partners, will help expand the pool of private and public capital investment for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs across the residential spectrum.
Enhance Safe and Healthy Housing
- Expand housing management practices that protect the health of residents.
- Evaluate HUD’s existing methods to assess the physical condition of assisted housing for potential improvements in identifying defects shown to adversely impact health, consistent with the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Healthy Homes, HUD’s Leading Our Nation to Healthier Homes: The Healthy Homes Strategic Plan, and the federal Advancing Healthy Housing: A Strategy for Action. This review will include HUD’s physical condition assessment protocols, such as the Uniform Physical Condition Standards for Voucher Programs (UPCS‑V).
Strengthen Environmental Reviews
- Strengthen the environmental review process. HUD will strengthen the environmental review process to require resilient projects by pursuing rulemaking to require flood mitigation in special flood hazard areas. Finally, through continued support and emphasis on a thorough and complete environmental review, HUD will be supporting safe, sustainable projects that have a minimal negative impact on the environment.
Progress Update
To assess our progress toward increasing the energy efficiency and health of the nation’s housing stock, HUD tracks the number of newly constructed or retrofitted housing units that are healthy, energy-efficient, and/or meet green building standards. In 2015, the Secretary challenged program offices to meet our previously established FY 2014-15 targets, matching our historic trend 160,000-unit two-year targets on green and healthy home production. In light of funding challenges, such as the expiration of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funds and appropriations for key programs, the progress made in achieving the Department’s objectives for FY 2014-15 is noteworthy. Over the last two years, HUD has completed 154,514 green or healthy units, or 95.2 percent of the Department’s two-year FY 2014-15 target of 162,259. Of the completed green or healthy units, 114,325 units, or 73.9 percent, were energy-related, and the remaining 40,189 units were lead hazard control or healthy housing retrofits funded through HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) or through enforcement of the Lead Safe Housing Rule by CPD and HOME funds. Note: these totals include “unit equivalent” counts for some public housing units, as noted below.
FY 2014-15 Energy-Related Units Completions by Program Office, through September 30, 2015:
- The Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD): CPD reported 8,748 energy efficient units in FY 2015 and a combined FY 2014-15 total of 16,671 units, exceeding its two-year target of 16,543 energy efficient units. Completed CPD units consist of new HOME and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)-funded units meeting the Energy Star Certified New Homes standard, as well as energy efficient CDBG-DR units built for Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief. FY 2015 totals have been impacted by lower appropriations for the HOME program, as well as decreased expenditures for CDBG new construction―down 43 percent from FY 2014. It should be noted that, while HUD completed fewer Energy Star certified units in FY 2015 than in FY 2014, the percentage of new CDBG housing units that were also Energy Star certified increased to more than 33 percent in FY 2015.
- Multifamily Housing: The Office of Multifamily Housing completed 16,364 energy efficient units in FY 2015 and a combined FY 2014-15 total of 34,276 units. Multifamily Housing set an ambitious FY 2015 target for its Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD), with 13,770 energy efficient units expected last fiscal year. However, the Department fell well short of that target due in large part to the delayed-rollout of the RAD program, as well as the initial production cap limiting the number of eligible projects. As a result, Multifamily Housing met 75 percent of its two-year goal of 16,364 energy efficient units. In addition to the RAD program, the following multifamily programs are included in this total: FHA Multifamily Endorsements with energy efficient features, the Mark-to-Market Program Green Initiative, Section 202 and Section 811 projects funded under the FY 2009 and FY 2010 NOFAs and completed in FY 2014-15, and the Green Preservation Plus Risk Sharing Program.
- Single Family Housing: FHA’s Office of Single Family Housing reported 5,872 energy efficient units through the fourth quarter of FY 2015, exceeding its FY 2015 target of 5,700 units. Since FY 2014, Single Family Housing has reported 6,639 energy efficient units, or 103 percent of its two-year target of 6,425 units. The overwhelming majority of these units (5,117) were financed with Section 203(k) mortgages which finance rehabilitation and home improvements in conjunction with home purchases (or refinancing of existing mortgages). In FY 2015, Single Family Housing began tracking energy efficient units completed under this program for the first time. Additional units reported were through FHA's Title I and 203(k) PowerSaver Pilot Program, FHA's Power and the Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM) program. The PowerSaver Pilot Program ended in May 2015.
- The Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH): PIH reported 27,311 energy efficient units in FY 2015 and 56,739 energy efficient units since the beginning of FY 2014, exceeding the two-year target of 47,454 by over 9,000 energy efficient units. Reported PIH units include energy upgrades of existing public housing funded through the Public Housing Capital Fund (PHCF), counted as “unit equivalents”, as well as primarily new “developed energy efficient units” through mixed financing streams, HOPE VI, and Choice Neighborhoods. Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) units are reported annually and historically make up a large proportion of the completed PIH units―over 72 percent of completed units in FY 2014 and 63 percent in FY 2015.
Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes Units, through September 30, 2015:
- Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) and CPD: OLHCHH and CPD reported 18,619 units in FY 2015, and combined to complete 40,189 units FY 2014-15. These include lead hazard interim control or abatement activities carried out by OLHCHH as well as similar activities carried out by CPD pursuant to the Lead Safe Housing Rule with HOME and CDBG funds. OLHCHH activities have been adversely affected by a number of factors, including severe winter weather conditions over the last two winters, the limited supply of certified lead contractors, and rising costs per unit. Furthermore, Lead Safe Housing Rule (LSHR) activities are tied to CDBG and HOME program rehabilitation activities. As CDBG and HOME production ebbs and flows, so too does LSHR production. Consequently, reduced CDBG funding and proposed funding cuts to the HOME program in FY 2016 will have serious implications for the Department's health and safety work, placing families with small children particularly at risk. Indeed, OLHCHH grantees work to mitigate environmental hazards for improved health outcomes in housing, prioritizing units where children are present. In addition to reporting on a variety of lead hazard control and healthy housing grant programs, OLHCHH also reports data on its enforcement actions, as well as on the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, which combines environmental assessments and single stream interventions in the areas of lead hazard reduction, Healthy Homes, weatherization, and energy efficiency.
Number of HUD-assisted or -associated units completing energy efficient or healthy retrofits or new construction | |||||||
FY10 Actual | FY11 Actual | FY12 Actual | FY13 Actual | FY14 Actual |
FY15 Actual |
FY15 Target | |
Office of Public and Indian Housing | 61,193 | 54,609 | 40,567 | 37,242 | 29,428 | 27,311 | 23,009 |
Office Community Planning and Development | 6,011 | 9,349 |
15,915 |
14,546 | 7,923 | 8,748 | 7,6191 |
Office of Housing | 5,445 | 17,927 | 15,311 | 13,500 | 18,679 | 22,236 | 34,068 |
Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes | 16,738 | 22,754 | 13,115 | 10,663 | 21,570 | 18,619 | 23,216 |
HUD Total | 88,387 | 104,639 | 84,908 | 75,951 | 77,600 | 76,914 | 87,912 |
HUD remains commitmened to mainstreaming energy efficient, green, and healthy building practices across the residential sector. In 2015, HUD is: (1) outlining a comprehensive approach to strengthen energy and green building requirements; (2) using incentives for borrowers or grantees to agree to green standards; (3) developing large-scale solutions and tools; and (4) assembling new sources of public and private investment in energy efficiency and clean energy across the residential sector. HUD is involved in several components of the President’s Climate Action Plan, and is working towards achieving the goals outlined in the plan.
1 The FY 2015 target for Community Planning and Development (CPD) has been lowered from the total published in the Department's FY 2014 Annual Performance Report and FY 2016 Annual Performance Plan. The previous FY 2015 CPD target of 8,711 reflected an error in the HOME target (7,492). The correct target of 6,400 was incorrectly assigned to the FY 2016 target. These targets will be corrected in the FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan, which the Department is currenly drafting.
Next Steps
No Data Available
Expand All
Performance Indicators
Number of HUD-assisted or HUD-associated units completing energy-efficient or healthy retrofits or new construction
Contributing Programs & Other Factors
This performance goal includes major HUD program that produce, manage, or finance affordable housing. The program lead is the Office of Economic Resilience (OER), which coordinates a broad-based Departmental effort to reduce the energy requirements of HUD’s national portfolio. Meanwhile, HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH) manages and funds lead hazard control and healthy housing retrofits, promoting tenant healthy and safety.
Expand All
Strategic Goals
Strategic Goal:
Build Strong, Resilient, and Inclusive Communities
Statement:
Build Strong, Resilient, and Inclusive Communities
Strategic Objectives
Statement:
Reduce housing discrimination, affirmatively further fair housing through HUD programs, and foster inclusive communities free from discrimination.
Description:
One of America’s fundamental ideals is that hard work and determination will open the doors to opportunity. However, for too long and for too many people, access to opportunity is still not within reach. Americans all want the same basic things for their families: a safe, affordable place to call home, a quality education for our kids, and access to transportation, jobs, retail, and services. Despite genuine progress and a landscape of communities transformed in the more than 40 years since the Fair Housing Act was enacted, the ZIP code in which a child grows up, all too often, remains a strong predictor of that child’s success. To this end, HUD seeks to significantly increase the number of housing providers, lenders, members of the real estate community, and others that fully comply with the Fair Housing Act and other applicable fair housing and civil rights laws and do not discriminate on any basis prohibited by those laws and regulations. While housing discrimination still takes on blatant forms in some instances, it has become more subtle through the years, resulting in under¬reporting and complicating effective enforcement.
In addition to enforcement, HUD works proactively to make access to important neighborhood assets measurably fairer in neighborhoods where HUD invests, and to ensure that policies and practices are in place to provide equal access to persons with disabilities.
Statement:
Increase the health and safety of homes and embed comprehensive energy efficiency and healthy housing criteria across HUD programs.
Description:
HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. With approximately 5.5 million housing units assisted through its rental assistance programs, HUD’s share of this total is significant. HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector.
Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects completed in more than 510,000 housing units.
In FY 2016-17, HUD will continue or expand energy investments in the residential sector to support the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership—both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy generation, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and strengthen codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing.
The need to retrofit HUD-assisted housing is not limited to the efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, and injuries. HUD makes homes healthy and safe through several programs, led by the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes’ (OLHCHH) lead hazard control grant programs and Lead Safe Housing Rule (LSHR) compliance. OLHCHH also educates the general public about healthy homes through a public communications campaign to help people connect the dots between their health and their home.
The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make required lead hazard reduction measures in assisted housing covered by the LSHR. With funding for OLHCHH grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2016, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) experiencing significant funding reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2016 is expected to decrease.
Statement:
Support the recovery of communities from disasters by promoting community resilience, developing state and local capacity, and ensuring a coordinated federal response that reduces risk and produces a more resilient built environment.
Description:
Helping to increase communities’ resilience is integral to national disaster preparedness and the mission of HUD. This effort is consistent with the goals and objectives of Presidential Policy Directive / PPD-8 (National Preparedness) and Executive Order 13653 (Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change). Over the next five years, HUD will continue to support and expand programs and initiatives designed to increase and enhance pre-planning, research, infrastructure investment, partnerships, and cross-cutting coordination related to disaster response, recovery, and resilience. This work will involve the combined efforts of HUD’s program offices and federal, state, local, and private sector partners and will incorporate HUD’s civil rights, energy, environment, and diversity goals and responsibilities.
Agency Priority Goals
Statement:
Between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2015, HUD aims to increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation’s housing stock by enabling 160,000 cost-effective energy efficient or healthy housing units.
Description:
HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.[1] HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector.
Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, injuries, and other housing-related health hazards. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with completed energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects in more than 460,000 housing units.
From 2014–2018, HUD aims to continue to focus on energy and health investments in the residential sector, both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing, to support the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and raise the bar on codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing.
The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make require lead hazard reduction measures in housing being assisted. With funding for Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2015, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Program (HOME) experiencing significant reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2015 and 2016 is expected to decrease.
[1] EPA 2013
Strategic Objectives
Strategic Objective:
Statement:
Increase the health and safety of homes and embed comprehensive energy efficiency and healthy housing criteria across HUD programs.
Description:
HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. With approximately 5.5 million housing units assisted through its rental assistance programs, HUD’s share of this total is significant. HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector.
Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects completed in more than 510,000 housing units.
In FY 2016-17, HUD will continue or expand energy investments in the residential sector to support the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership—both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy generation, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and strengthen codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing.
The need to retrofit HUD-assisted housing is not limited to the efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, and injuries. HUD makes homes healthy and safe through several programs, led by the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes’ (OLHCHH) lead hazard control grant programs and Lead Safe Housing Rule (LSHR) compliance. OLHCHH also educates the general public about healthy homes through a public communications campaign to help people connect the dots between their health and their home.
The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make required lead hazard reduction measures in assisted housing covered by the LSHR. With funding for OLHCHH grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2016, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) experiencing significant funding reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2016 is expected to decrease.
Agency Priority Goals
Statement: HUD is committed to increasing the health and safety of homes and embed comprehensive energy efficiency and healthy housing criteria across HUD programs. Since fiscal year 2010, HUD has completed over 510,000 green or healthy units. Between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2017, HUD aims to increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation’s housing stock by enabling an additional 160,000 cost-effective energy efficient or healthy housing units.
Description: HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.[1] With approximately 5.6 million housing units assisted through its rental assistance programs, HUD’s share of this total is significant. HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector. Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects completed in more than 510,000 housing units. In FY 2016-17, HUD will continue or expand energy investments in the residential sector to support the goals of the President’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership—both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy generation, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and strengthen codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing. The need to retrofit HUD-assisted housing is not limited to the efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, and injuries. HUD makes homes healthy and safe through several programs, led by the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes’ (OLHCHH) lead hazard control grant programs and Lead Safe Housing Rule (LSHR) compliance. OLHCHH also educates the general public about healthy homes through a public communications campaign to help people connect the dots between their health and their home. The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make required lead hazard reduction measures in assisted housing covered by the LSHR. With funding for OLHCHH grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2016, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) experiencing significant funding reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2016 is expected to decrease. [1] Department of Energy, 2011 Building Energy Data Book, Table 2.4.1.
Statement: Between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2015, HUD aims to increase the energy efficiency and health of the nation’s housing stock by enabling 160,000 cost-effective energy efficient or healthy housing units.
Description: HUD has committed to creating energy efficient, green, and healthy housing as part of a broader effort to foster the development of inclusive, sustainable communities. The residential sector is responsible for fully 21 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.[1] HUD spends an estimated $6.4 billion annually on utilities (both water and energy) in the form of allowances for tenant-paid utilities, direct operating grants for public housing, and housing assistance payments for privately-owned assisted housing. Utility costs account for around 22 percent of public housing operating budgets, and a similar share in the assisted housing sector. Reducing these rising costs—generating savings for residents and owners, as well as for taxpayers—is a key HUD priority. Housing is also an important determinant of health, and poor housing conditions are associated with a wide range of health conditions, including respiratory infections, asthma, lead poisoning, injuries, and other housing-related health hazards. Significant progress has been made over the past five years with completed energy retrofits, healthy housing interventions, or new energy projects in more than 460,000 housing units. From 2014–2018, HUD aims to continue to focus on energy and health investments in the residential sector, both in HUD-assisted housing, as well as in market-rate housing, to support the goals of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut energy waste in half by 2030 and accelerate clean energy leadership. We will reduce barriers to financing energy efficiency as well as on-site renewable energy, help unlock innovative and traditional sources of capital, and raise the bar on codes and standards that promote energy efficiency and healthy housing. The production of lead-safe housing units will continue to depend strongly on the level of funding for the lead hazard control grant programs and the rehabilitation programs that make require lead hazard reduction measures in housing being assisted. With funding for Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes grant activities projected to be approximately level through FY 2015, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Program (HOME) experiencing significant reductions in recent years, the number of pre-1978 housing units made lead-safe in 2015 and 2016 is expected to decrease. [1] EPA 2013