At the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, President Obama announced new guidance for the property-assessed clean energy (PACE) program that should “remove existing barriers and accelerate the use of PACE financing for single-family housing,” greentechmedia.com reports. PACE loan programs allow property owners to finance energy efficiency improvements, including water-conservation measures, energy efficient window or solar panel installations, and adding insulation, through loans that are paid back through a line item on their property tax bills (for more on this, see Ohio Green Strategies' June 17, 2015 blog post). One barrier to the program has been the first-lien status of these loans in most states, which is unpopular with mortgage lenders. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) established a new PACE guidance requiring PACE loans “to be subordinate to FHA single-family first-mortgage financing” and also allowing the financing to transfer to the new owners when properties are sold. Stacey Lawson, CEO of PACE administrator Ygrene Energy Fund, said, “PACE is now at the forefront of national energy efficiency policy.” For more, read the full article and the full FHA press release, or click here for Bricker & Eckler’s Energy SIDs and PACE Financing Resource Center.
PACE guidance change opens program to FHA homeowners for first time
