A Call For $250 Million Zero Carbon Renovation Fund In Salem

Salem MA

14 June, 2022

3:00 PM

Description

SALEM, MA —Local officials and environmental advocates used the ongoing energy retrofits at the Salem Heights Family Housing Renovation project to push the need for statewide funding to help retrofit public housing, municipal buildings and schools across the region. The proposed Zero Carbon Renovation Fund would allocate $250 million in state funding to cities and towns looking to meet carbon-neutral action plan goals. "This is a groundbreaking project," said Massachusetts Climate Action Network Executive Director Sarah Dooling said of the Salem Heights retrofit. "Putting together the funding for this type of project is a really big task, it draws from multiple sources and it's super complicated. "The Zero Carbon Renovation Fund would make funding easier for these projects and make this more typical." Proponents of funding the retrofits argue that not only are they necessary to meet climate carbon-neutrality goals, but that in the long run they make buildings more affordable, and the people who live and work in them healthier. "This building began as a rescue mission in 2003 to make sure it was preserved for affordable housing," said Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, who is also a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in 2022. "And to see it fast forward nearly 20 years later, to make investments that not only are going to continue to preserve affordability but ensure that we're thinking moving forward about making sure this building is energy efficient and that we are retrofitting in a resilient way." Driscoll referenced the strides Beverly and Salem have taken in their joint climate resiliency plan but said more help will be needed for similar projects across the North Shore and the state. Proponents have called for allocating COVID-19 American Rescue Plan Act funding toward these goals, but Driscoll said it will take more than that. "We don't just talk about climate action but we actually lead," Driscoll said. "These systems, these improvements, are just vital. Having the opportunity to have a Renovation Fund that can really put these ideas into motion in so many of our communities is going to be critical." Under the Zero Carbon Renovation Fund Coalition's proposal, environmental justice communities would be prioritized as well as minority- and women-owned businesses. "Investing in the Zero Carbon Renovation Fund will close this funding gap," Dooling said, "making it possible to scale up the more than 1 million retrofits that are needed over the next 10 years while reducing project costs over time. "The time to make this investment is now." (Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)