HR&A Partner Jon Meyers Chairs ULI Panel Advancing Equitable Decarbonization for NYC Co-ops

The TAP was commissioned by MOCEJ to focus on the unique challenges the city’s co-operatives (co-ops) face in meeting the requirements of Local Law 97 (LL97): The cost and complexity of necessary building decarbonization investments, nearly all of which will have to be borne by building residents, present challenges that are particularly acute for the city’s limited equity co-ops, which provide deeply affordable housing for low- and middle-income New Yorkers. The new report charts a path forward for these co-ops in pursuit of their 2035 emissions goals and 2050 net zero goals, outlining strategies to overcome the technical, funding, and regulatory challenges that stand in the way of co-ops complying with LL97. The report also emphasizes the critical importance of maintaining or even enhancing the quality and affordability of housing units for existing and future residents.

One of the TAP’s main takeaways was the importance of changing the narrative around LL97 for co-ops, better communicating that electrification is not expected to happen overnight. By focusing on a 25-year pathway for LL97 compliance and a zero-over-time (ZOT) approach to resource-efficient decarbonization (RED), the report begins to provide the information needed to demonstrate an incremental path to decarbonization that aligns with existing building capital needs and financial timelines.

The report also provides recommendations for the next 12 months and focuses on four central themes: collaboration, education, finance, and regulatory reform. Specifically, the report recommends:

• • • • Using a cohort-based approach. To maximize available resources, the city should create cohorts of large low- and moderate-income co-ops that can work together to find efficiencies that help them implement decarbonization at scale. These building cohorts can share data and other learnings that will be critical to establishing better paths to success and work together as large groups to attract public resources and negotiate with vendors.
      • Providing training, education, and capability building. Other recommendations include creating a toolkit for co-ops that demonstrates how an incremental path to electrification and decarbonization could work, including best practices for overcoming the technical and financial hurdles. Developing a charrette process using the toolkit, releasing aggregated building data and ZOT case studies, and providing targeted training for the entire co-op community will be crucial for putting the toolkit to immediate practical use.
      • Shifting financial frameworks. These recommendations address the massive decarbonization costs, which will total tens of millions of dollars for many buildings. As noted in the report, aligning financial incentives with existing building loans is key. Other potential paths include:
        • Exploring financing tools for co-ops, such as extending and expanding the J-51 property tax exemption and abatement for renovating residential buildings
        • Having the city provide a credit enhancement to co-ops to enable more attractive financing for decarbonization projects
      • Improving regulations. These recommendations largely focus on streamlining rulemaking and fast-tracking approval processes to facilitate compliance, while also finding ways to recognize the decarbonization work co-ops have already begun.

     

    • • • The TAP was chaired by ULI member Jonathan Meyers, Partner, HR&A Advisors.“For the vision of LL97 to be realized, decarbonizing buildings is critical. We focused on ways to achieve LL97’s goals through strategies that respect the complexity of the buildings themselves, and without hurting the affordable and high-quality housing stock we rely on.” said Meyers. “Over the course of the TAP process, it was heartening to see the good-faith effort of every stakeholder — from MOCEJ to co-op board members — to find solutions that will help the planet yet are also viable to implement. When MOCEJ commissioned this TAP and brought together such a diverse panel of experts, it showed its commitment to working with the co-op community on LL97 compliance. We are eager to see the implementation of many of our recommendations in the coming months.”Meyers was joined on the TAP by Alicia Fernandez, Treasurer, Queensview, Inc.; William Kalbacker, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Steven Winter Associates, Inc.; Derick Kowalczyk, Multifamily Program Manager, Wildan Energy Solutions; Jennifer Leone, Assistant Commissioner and Chief Sustainability Officer, NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development; Samantha Pearce, Vice President of Sustainability, New York State Homes & Community Renewal; Jeff Perlman, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Bright Power; Rebecca Poole, Director of Membership and Communication, Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums; and Jared Rodriguez, Principal, Emergent Urban Concepts. ULI is grateful for their guidance and MOCEJ’s vision and support.
          “The Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice is leading the effort to decarbonize New York City’s building sector and we recognize the significant technical and financial challenges that Local Law 97 presents to co-op owners,” said MOCEJ Executive Director Elijah Hutchinson. “We’re grateful to the Urban Land Institute New York for creating a report that outlines the actionable steps for both the administration and the private sector and are committed to deepening our support for co-ops as they work to meet to the city’s decarbonization goals.”
          Over the past few months, the MOCEJ has begun several new programs in line with the recommendations of the TAP, including:
          • • Education – MOCEJ is actively working with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), and the Building Energy Exchange (BE-Ex) on a set of resources for co-ops and condos on long-term decarbonization. The educational resources will include slide decks and case studies about buildings that have decarbonized successfully.
            • Financial – MOCEJ has also taken initial steps toward expanding the toolkit of financing options, including advocating for an extension of J-51 at the state level, where it has been introduced into pending legislation.

            A full copy of the report is available here.

            This project was made possible by ULI’s Net Zero Initiative, a multi-year initiative to accelerate decarbonization in the built environment and advance ULI’s net zero mission priority.