Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRPL) Leading Edge Modification

The Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP), otherwise known as the Leading Edge Modification, is a service put in place by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169). The goal of this program is to increase the efficiency of utilities and energy production, while also focusing on the preparation for climate-related hazards to safeguard human life, property, and comfort during natural disasters.

This program is the first of its kind to be approved by the U.S Housing and Urban Development (HUD) department that invests not only in energy efficiency and production, but also in climate resilient strategies tailored for HUD-assisted multi-family housing. The program matches the Administration's Justice 40 objectives by exclusively investing in affordable housing communities for families with low-income.

The GRRP funding will be distributed through three separate cohorts, each catered to different needs within the HUD-assisted multifamily portfolio. The first round of GRRP funding will be divided into three main sections. The first, the Elements section, will fund proven and highly effective climate resilience and carbon reduction measures used in ongoing recapitalization transactions. The second section, the Leading Edge, will fund housing owners who are eager to achieve aggressive carbon reduction and resilience goals without the need for extensive collaboration with the HUD. Lastly, the Comprehensive section will fund the initiation of recapitalization investments that are based on deep retrofits, with a specific emphasis on innovation in energy efficiency, greening procedures, renewable energy production, usage of low-carbon building materials, and investments in climate resilience.

The approaches will, to the best extent possible, greatly improve energy and water efficiency, moving properties towards net-zero or zero-over-time energy performance. They also aim to address climate resilience, improve indoor air quality and resident health, implement the use of zero-emission electricity generation and energy storage, minimize embodied carbon, incorporate low-emission building materials or processes and promote building electrification.