Landlords clashed over the likely effects of the City of Boulder’s proposed SmartRegs (which will be debated by the City Council at a second reading on July 6)  at a PLAN-Boulder County forum on the subject on June 21. Francoise Poinsatte, a forum panelist, rental property owner and former member of the Boulder City Council, claimed that compliance with the proposed regulations would be relatively easy and inexpensive for landlords and enhance their property values. In contrast, Sheila Horton, an audience member who is the executive director of the Boulder Area Rental Housing Association, argued that the regulations would create major financial burdens and no benefits for landlords.

Francoise declared that she has always taken pride in the physical condition of her rental properties. She said that she has already made significant improvements to them, including energy efficiency improvements, and welcomes the prospect of improving them still more. She noted that the proposed regulations emphasized relatively inexpensive measures–such as insulating walls, attics and under-floor crawlspaces, and stopping air leakage. She recounted that she had enlisted her 19-year old son to install insulation in some of her rental homes and that the insulation material itself had been fairly cheap to buy. She also observed that a high proportion of Boulder’s rental housing stock is constructed in the same way and that consequently energy improvements could become relatively standardized, thereby perhaps reducing costs. Francoise asserted that the re-sale value of her properties will rise as they use less energy.

Sheila, however, implied that the re-sale prices of rental properties are determined only by the gross amount of rents they can command in the market and contended that rents have been under severe pressure in the City of Boulder recently. She said that 2,500 units of rental housing had been built in the City during the past two years. That increase in supply has depressed rental rates. She claimed that landlords could not pass on the costs of compliance with SmartRegs to their tenants, even when the tenants’ utility bills fall, because market competition with their peers would not allow them to do so. Sheila also asserted that landlords around the nation are reeling from the expense of complying with new regulations on lead-based paint, which the Environmental Protection Agency put into effect in April, 2010, and apply to buildings constructed before 1979.

Another panelist at the forum, Yael Gichon, who is a member of the City of Boulder’s Environmental Affairs Office, said that the proposed SmartRegs have been designed to promote the energy efficiency measures that produce the most benefit for the least cost. She said that they had been devised after a City consultant had conducted case studies of seven different types of rental housing. The proposed regulations would require each rental unit to obtain a “score” of 100 over two rental licensing cycles and at least 50 during each cycle. Each rental licensing cycle last four years. Yael asserted that every rental unit in the case studies already qualified for a “score” of at least 50. She also stated that the regulations may provide for a yearly spending limit on energy improvements by landlords and that they will allow exemptions for two types of “hardship”: financial and technical.

A third panelist, Tim Hillman, a tenant, claimed that a “market failure” has occurred in rental housing, because the tenants typically pay the utility bills, while only the landlords have the legal authority and the incentive to spend money on the housing to improve its energy efficiency. Consequently, regulation is needed to correct the market failure. He also observed that over 50 percent of the City’s dwelling units are rental, which percentage makes the energy impact of the market failure significant. He predicted that the proposed SmartRegs, if they are passed, will stimulate the local economy.

Tim cautioned that the behavior of tenants, as well as landlords, needs to change to reduce the waste of energy. He said that tenant education would be helpful, and he commended the University of Colorado for energy educational programs it has conducted for students. However, he recognized that education alone requires time to change behavior. He enthusiastically endorsed close cooperation between landlords and tenants to conserve energy.

The fourth panelist, Ann Livingston, who is Boulder County’s Sustainability Coordinator, said that rental properties in the City of Boulder qualify for Boulder County’s Climate Smart loan program, as well as for Xcel’s energy rebates.  Neither credit scores nor loan-to-value ratios are considered by the County in issuing a Climate Smart loan. The minimum size of a Climate Smart loan is $3,000 and the maximum is $50,000 or 20 percent of the assessed value of the property, whichever is lower. The loans may only be used to pay for fixtures, not appliances. They bear the same interest as the bonds which Boulder County sold to finance them, plus a small administrative fee; and they are secured by a lien on the improved property, which becomes due at the time of sale.

Ann reported that Boulder County has issued $10 million in Climate Smart loans during the past 12 months. The average cost of energy improvements per dwelling unit has been $4-5,000.She cautioned that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the gigantic, Federally sponsored mortgage insurers, have recently raised objections to the way that Climate Smart loans are secured.

She also noted that the County’s PACE energy program provides “micro-loans” from $500 to $3,000 for terms of up to three years at low or no interest. Ann disclosed that Boulder County is currently considering applying for a $20 million block grant, $8 million of which would be reserved as a pool to help finance residential energy improvements. According to Ann, the County is planning to participate with the City in the much-anticipated “Two Techs and a Truck” program. That program is expected to be inaugurated in the next few months and will be available for rental, as well as owner-occupied, properties.

What do you think?  Should landlords be required to make energy efficiency upgrades to their properties? Vote in the Blue Line Poll today!

After a little thinking break, the Boulder City Council re-engaged the issue of SmartRegs at Tuesday’s council meeting, voting unanimously in favor of moving it forward to a second reading.

When SmartRegs first broke into the council’s agenda two weeks ago, council members spoke about it with optimism about its carbon offsetting potential and confidence that it would pass in some form or another.  But after hearing over two hours of public comment, with strong facts and anecdotes coming from both sides, the council voted to delay their decision and moved onto the next agenda item without so much as a closing remark.

It was somewhat unsettling for the over-capacity crowd to sit through so much stirring testimony only to be rewarded with no response from the council. What seemed so certain to council members at the beginning was capped off without any summarizing thoughts or indication of how this week’s decision would turn out.  Read more in the New Era News.

In the US, buildings are responsible for almost half (48%) of annual greenhouse gas emissions; globally, the percentage is even greater.  Since all of the buildings in the entire world are existing, if we do not make significant reductions to building greenhouse gas emissions, then we aren’t serious about addressing climate change.

This Tuesday, City Council will decide whether proposed “smart regulations” (energy efficiency upgrade regulations for existing residential rental buildings) should advance to the next stage of Council consideration.  These “smart regulations” will be one of the City’s most substantive act after years of delay toward addressing climate change and achieving City climate action plan goals, which include achievement of Kyoto Protocol goals.

During last week’s public testimony before City Council on this issue, many landlords and their lobby, the Boulder Area Rental Housing Association (BARHA) turned out in force, packing Council chambers to oppose Smart Regulations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Reasons given ranged from asserting such regulations would have no effect because irresponsible renters will negate any building improvements, to asserting that older buildings can’t be reasonably improved (despite decades of evidence to the contrary).  However, other landlords testified that they had already made the types of  building improvements that the Smart Regulations will require and had realized cost effective benefits.

Fundamentally, the opposing landlords’ resistance to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions is about who foots the bill.  They do not want to incur the cost of change.  We have spent 150 years since the industrial revolution getting into this climate change predicament.  Surely no one believes addressing it will not incur costs.

If Boulderites want building greenhouse gas emissions reduced and building owners don’t want to pay the cost, then who pays?   Me?  You?

Or maybe we do nothing.   But that has costs too; it just increases and transfers them from landlords to everyone else.

Scientists give us 10 years to be well on our way toward global greenhouse gas emission reductions to avoid catastrophic climate change.  Yet in last week’s Council meeting, landlords suggested if such smart regulations were to be implemented, there should be a long phase in period, such as 15 years.

Now I’ll go out on a limb here and presume that most readers accept that climate change is real, dangerous and critical; that it represents a serious threat to livelihoods and lives throughout the world and that immediate and substantive action might be prudent.  If climate change was treated as a life threatening disease such as clogged arteries, would it be prudent to reject your doctor’s recommendation for immediate bypass surgery because you didn’t want to spend the money?  Would you defer action for 15 years?

Boulder talks the talk about being a sustainable community.  Can we walk the walk?  Climate change demands immediate and robust action and the Smart Regulations will be an early meaningful step towards fulfilling its climate action plan after 8 years of talk.

Addressing climate change will require effort from everyone.  What I heard from BARHA and opposing landlords last week is that they don’t want to shoulder their share of this responsibility.

We have a simple choice – to act or dither; but one way or another, there will be a price to pay.  City Council should not shy away from the opportunity offered by the Smart Regulations to take a major step toward reducing Boulder’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Boulder City Council began its first reading of the much-discussed SmartRegs proposal at their meeting on May 18. In witness of an over-capacity meeting hall, Mayor Susan Osborne said it was, “the most important issue we’ll tackle this year, and the most complex.” Landlords and renters passionately agreed.  Read more in the New Era News.

SmartRegs is a potential city policy that will create minimum standards for energy efficiency in rental units, such as sealing gaps in windows, installing programmable thermostats, low-flow shower heads and insulation.

SmartRegs has already passed through the Landmarks Advisory Board, the Environmental Advisory Board and Planning Board. With a few minor edits to the policy it is moving on to Boulder’s City Council next. (Click here to email City Council)

The SmartRegs policy will have its first reading at the City Council Meeting on May 18th at 6 p.m. City council needs to hear support from the community about this innovative policy. Please take a moment to edit this letter and let City Council members hear that we need this policy to be passed in Boulder. (Click here to email City Council)

You can also join New Era and show up in person to make a statement!

Boulder’s City Council Meeting

May 18th, 6 p.m
City Council Chambers
1777 Broadway

(Click here to email City Council)

Progressive political activist group New Era Colorado took to the streets this weekend here to gather signatures from the student community in support of proposed regulations that would force rental properties in Boulder to lower energy usage through efficiency upgrades.  Read about it in the Colorado Independent.

]]> http://www.boulderblueline.org/2010/04/14/colorado-independent-new-era-knocks-on-doors-for-smartregs-in-boulder/feed/ 0 http://www.boulderblueline.org/2010/04/07/new-era-news-renters-with-benefit/ http://www.boulderblueline.org/2010/04/07/new-era-news-renters-with-benefit/#comments Thu, 08 Apr 2010 03:42:47 +0000 admin http://www.boulderblueline.org/?p=960

The city council, representing the citizens of Boulder, passed the Climate Action Plan.  SmartRegs is their first measurable step in a series of actions steps aimed at attaining the plan’s goals.  Read about it in New Era News.