Federal funding opportunities through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are supporting essential investments in green and resilient infrastructure, with the potential to create more livable communities while also supporting successful real estate developments through enhanced aesthetics, improved building user experiences, and operational efficiencies.
Investing in infrastructure to address the many impacts of climate change—including sea level rise, heat waves, storm surge, and drought—is crucial in safeguarding the built environment and in promoting the health and economic vitality of our cities.
Infrastructure and buildings need to be designed and built to account for the effects of climate change that are likely to occur over their lifetimes. Nature-based infrastructure solutions—defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as “practices that weave natural features or processes into the built environment to promote adaptation and resilience” are essential in addressing the physical aspects of climate change.
A collection of ULI resources related to federal infrastructure funding through the IRA and BIL is available at uli.org/federalfunding. Two of the funding programs currently supporting local efforts to promote nature-based solutions and advance community resilience are Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program and the Green and Resilient Retrofit program.
Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity Program (RAISE)
The Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program, administered by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), provides discretionary grant funding to states, local governments, and public agencies through BIL to support “safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, mobility and community connectivity, economic competitiveness and opportunity including tourism, state of good repair, partnership and collaboration, and innovation.” RAISE is the current iteration of the transportation infrastructure program that has gone by a few different names, including TIGER and BUILD grants.
Michael Dexter, director of federal programs at the Southeast Sustainability Directors Network, notes that USDOT has placed a stronger emphasis on data-driven approaches to incorporating environmental sustainability and equity into project design.
Federal funding is available at all project stages. “The federal government intends to ‘meet communities where they are’, says Dexter. “Whether you have a shovel-ready project or are early on in stakeholder engagement and project design there is the opportunity to receive federal support for a project. Support can come in the form of RAISE planning or implementation grants, or—for those early in the project ideation phase—this support can be in the form of federally funded technical assistance to prepare a project for future funding from RAISE or other similar programs.”
In 2023, RAISE funding was awarded to 162 projects across the United States, including:
● Phoenix, Arizona. $10.2 million will support the PHX Cultural Corridor project that will add ADA-compliant sidewalks and enhanced pedestrian and bicycle facilities between Downtown Phoenix and the airport. The project aims to enhance resilience by mitigating the urban heat island effect through the installation of bus shelters and the use of a water-based asphalt treatment that is cooler than standard asphalt.
● Bakersfield, California. $10 million will support the Chester Avenue Connectivity and Climate Adaptation Project, which aims to improve resilience to more intense storm and heat events by investing in street enhancements along a 1.4-mile corridor and integrating best practices for receiving, filtering, and storing stormwater and groundwater recharge efforts, among other investments.
● Port St. Lucie, Florida. The city of Port St. Lucie received $2 million to plan, design, and conduct community outreach for improvements to the 1.65-mile Village Green Drive Corridor. Improvements focus on pedestrian and roadway safety and adding green space and will enhance resilience by addressing environmental justice issues and reducing pollution to the St. Lucie River.
RAISE is a key source of funding for cities and towns to invest in nature-based solutions and other efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. “Port St. Lucie is working to create a more resilient city and has prioritized developing high-quality infrastructure and improving water quality in our Strategic Plan,” says Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon M. Martin.
“The RAISE grant for the Village Green Drive corridor will greatly assist the city in building our resiliency in a critical area of the city. The complete streets enhancements and green infrastructure planned for this corridor will help improve water quality, calm traffic, lower the urban heat island effect, address stormwater runoff and advance resiliency,” says Martin.
RAISE grant awards for 2024 will be announced in June with another round of funding anticipated to be announced in Fall 2024 and due in January 2025. An additional $1.5 billion planned to be awarded annually through FY 2026. Information on how to apply is available here.
Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP)
Administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) was established under the IRA. GRRP provides owners of HUD-assisted multifamily housing with capital resources to “reduce carbon emissions, make utility efficiency improvements, incorporate renewable energy sources, and make properties more resilient against the effects of climate hazards.” (See the Urban Land Magazine article “$2 Billion In New HUD Funds Available For Decarbonization, Resilience In Multifamily Buildings” for more information).
Since 2023, multiple rounds of funding have been awarded—supporting needed resilience-focused investments across the country. For example, Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), a nonprofit developer, owner, and operator of nearly 13,000 affordable homes in eleven states and the District of Columbia has received nine GRRP awards totaling $34.7 million, with additional applications pending as of March 2024.
In October 2023, four POAH properties received $23.5 million under GRRP’s HUD’s Leading Edge program. Recipients of Leading Edge category funding are required to commit to achieving recognized green certifications, including PHIUS REVIVE, LEEDv4 Gold or Platinum, and National Green Building Standard Gold or Emerald, that will lead to significant property upgrades, such as on-site solar, FORTIFIED-rated roofing, electrification of heating, and—in some cases—hot water, and other notable increases in energy efficiency and climate resilience through enclosure improvements.
Dena Xifaras, POAH’s Senior Vice President, Ownership & Operations notes that investing in resilience is a critical piece of POAH’s preservation mission because “it is good for residents, affordable housing sustainability, property operations, financial solvency, and the planet.”
“GRRP has been extremely helpful in moving forward our resilience goals,” states Xifaras. “We’ve been able to advance projects that were otherwise unviable, pursue innovative building performance improvement projects, broaden refinance and recapitalization project scopes to include additional sustainability measures, and generally move the needle on greening our portfolio more broadly, more deeply and more quickly.”
Specific POAH investments through GRRP include:
● The Fairweather Salem Deep Energy Retrofit project, which is increasing the thermal performance of a 128-unit senior apartment building in Massachusetts to limit impacts from the increasing intensity of weather events, severe temperatures in winter and summer, and prolong comfortable space temperatures during any potential power outages.
● Thermal improvement projects in Rhode Island at the Hillside and Hillcrest apartments to limit the impacts of local climate changes and weather events while also investing in more energy efficient and durable structures to limit pathways for particulate matter that has found to increase during periods of drought due to intensifying temperatures. These improvements also aim to limit water infiltration due to intense rain events, decreasing the likelihood for mold or bacteria growth in buildings.
● Five of the first seven POAH GRRP awardees are integrating energy recovery ventilation systems to provide filtered fresh air to buildings without excessive energy waste—improving indoor air quality and supporting resilience by limiting the impacts of events like the 2023 Canadian wildfire smoke and haze which reached the United States.
Information on other GRRP funding awards and application resources are available at hud.gov/GRRP.
Tips for Securing Federal Funding to Support Resilience
It is important that organizations ask themselves a few basic questions before moving forward with applying for federal funding through BIL and IRA to support resilience efforts. “Organizations need to consider basics like whether they have staff capacity to apply for and ultimately manage grants,” says Dexter.” “Does the financial benefit outweigh the administrative burden?”
Dexter also urges organizations to take a holistic look at all available funding opportunities. “Don’t forsake a $5 million grant for a $500,000 grant,” he says. “The application burden may be similar for grants of vastly different sizes, but many programs through IRA and BIL can fund overlapping resilience priorities and some funding sources are more competitive than others.” SSDN maintains a federal funding opportunity resource, highlighting upcoming grants and estimated timelines, available here.
Other tips to consider when applying for IRA and BIL funding to support resilience projects include:
● Follow the guidance in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. To be competitive, it is important to answer all questions, adhere to page limits, name your grant application, and clearly describe local need.
● Use data. Data is essential to tell the story of why federal funding is needed to support local goals. Using Justice40 datasets supplemented with local data can help make the case that a project supports the federal government’s goal that 40 percent of overall benefits of “certain climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.”
● Build relationships with local offices of federal staff and representatives. This can give insight into their selection processes and whether a proposal is a good fit for a specific program (or whether it is better suited to a different opportunity).
● Document, formalize, and describe partnerships. Cross-sector partnerships and partnerships with community-based organizations can strengthen applications and provide project benefits.
● Understand that getting selected is only the first step. Applicants should ensure they plan for a realistic project implementation timeline, with appropriate staff capacity and other resources to advance the project and comply with funding requirements.
