Future Housing Initiative

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Future Housing Initiative

HPD-NYSERDA $15 Million Future Housing Initiative for New Construction

Passive House concepts. Image courtesy of Building Energy Exchange.

HPD is committed to working toward the City’s goals of carbon neutrality by 2050, while focusing on the resiliency and health of our buildings and our residents. To achieve these goals, we have committed to releasing Design Guidelines that fast-track equitable decarbonization.

    • In March 2023, HPD released Design Guidelines for Preservation that focus on efficiency, resiliency, and strategic electrification.
    • In July 2023, HPD will release ambitious updates to our Design Guidelines for New Construction that mandate building electrification paired with enhanced resiliency to keep residents and buildings safe from current and future flood and heat risk. To meet HPD’s “Reach” goals, buildings will need to design to Passive House standards.

The Future Housing Initiative

To achieve these goals while building capacity for our internal and external stakeholders, HPD has partnered with NYSERDA to pilot a streamlined approach for incorporating clean energy incentives and technical assistance to support the development of high performance, all-electric new projects that meet HPD’s “Reach” goals. Funding will total $15 Million and will be allocated in two rounds.

Funding: The Future Housing Initiative will provide owners and developers up to $10,000 per dwelling unit and up to $1.5 million per project to fund the construction of high-performance all-electric* multifamily buildings that will achieve Passive House Certification.

Eligibility: The Future Housing Initiative will be open to projects in HPD’s New Construction Pipeline that are projected to close within 1-2 years of application to the program. Projects will be competitively selected through an application process and must demonstrate a financing gap to achieve the program’s performance goals. Projects may either be currently designed to meet this standard or in need of an “enhanced design”.

*Excludes emergency backup generators. Certain commercial equipment that cannot be electric may also be excluded.

Round One Funding Description

A total of $7.5 million will be available for Round One (Summer 2023) of this two-phase Initiative. Projects will be reviewed and scored by NYSERDA and HPD and will be selected based on the eligibility criteria outlined in the Future Housing Initiative Program Description document. Incentive levels will be based on the project’s demonstrated need but cannot exceed the per/ dwelling unit and per/ project amounts outlined below. Once selected, the project team will work with a NYSERDA funded Technical Assistance Provider to optimize the design and construction process.

  • Base Funding: Up to $5,500 per dwelling unit and up to $1,375,000 in total per project. Projects may use incentives to cover both hard and soft costs. 
  • Boost Criteria: Projects who meet certain “Boost Criteria” can receive an additional $4,500 per dwelling unit, up to a total of $10,000 per dwelling unit, and up to $1,500,000 in total per project.

Additional details can be found in the Future Housing Initiative Program Description.

How to Apply

    1. Submit a Future Housing Initiative Pre-Approval Letter from HPD Program to confirm that projects meets the program’s eligibility requirements. Applicants are highly encouraged to request this Letter from Program by May 15, 2023. This is to ensure Applicants receives the Letter on time for June 1, 2023. 
    2. Complete the Future Housing Initiative Application which includes:
      • Scope information and details
      • Description of team members, design task schedule and budget
      • Description of integrated design progress
    3. A narrative completed either by the owner or by the project’s selected green/energy consultant that describes the project’s current compliance with the Future Housing Initiative scope or the approach to achieving – not to exceed 2 pages, in PDF format. 
    4. Submit up to 3 renderings or other descriptive images showing building massing and facades, plus 1 building section. Images should be combined into a file no larger than 2 megabytes.
    5. Submit a signed contract with a licensed or certified professional who is able to certify the project as Passive House. 

Applications can be submitted to: futurehousing@hpd.nyc.gov

All applications must be consolidated into a .zip file of no larger than 10 megabytes, and named: FutureHousing_ProjectName_HPD ID

Application Deadlines

  • Application period opens early May 2023.
  • Applicants are highly encouraged to request the Pre-Approval Letter from Program by May 15, 2023. 
  • Full applications are due by June 1, 2023.
  • Projects will be selected and notified by July 15, 2023.

Resources

Additional questions?

Please email additional questions to: futurehousing@hpd.nyc.gov