Multifamily Outreach Plan

Version 1.0 - 4/18/2013 _ DRAFT

Bay Area Regional Energy Network (Bay REN)
Multi-family Outreach Plan
Multi-family Committee
StopWaste.Org: Bay REN Multi-family Sub-program Lead
Bay REN Multifamily Committee: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Mateo Counties
4/9/2013

Contents

Executive Summary 1

Multi-family Outreach Plan 7

1 Introduction 7

2 Background 7

2.1 Sector Diversity 7

2.2 Barriers and Motivators 8

2.3 Energy Savings Opportunities Unique to Multi-family 9

2.4 Importance of Financing and Building Lifecycle Events 10

2.5 The Multifamily Potential 12

3 Program Overview 12

3.1 Program Goals 13

3.2 Program Offering 14

4 Outreach Plan 14

4.1 Outreach Goals & Objectives 14

4.2 Market Segments and Characterization 15

4.3 Delivery Channels 18

4.4 Messaging 18

4.5 Collateral 20

4.6 Outreach Strategies & Tactics 21

4.7 Outreach and Program Timeline 28

4.8 Outreach Log and Reporting 29

5 Appendix 30

5.1 Industry Associations 30

5.2 Industry Events 30

5.3 Large Property Owners / Managers 31

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Executive Summary

The Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) will implement a Multifamily Program (Program) that offers technical assistance and rebates to property owners who undertake an Energy Upgrade. The Program will reach 300 property owners through targeted outreach, recruit 9,000 units into technical assistance, and incentivize 5,000 units with the bundled measures rebate.[1]

This multi-family outreach plan is developed for implementation of the Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) Multi-family Subprogram (Program). It is developed by the BayREN Multifamily Committee (Committee) and is intended for use as a sub-document related to broader marketing and outreach plan developed by other committees. The primary audience is the Committee and team of Counties responsible for implementing the targeted outreach. Secondary audiences include the Cities that the Counties will engage, PG&E’s multifamily program team, and other stakeholders and program implementers. This document references program design recommendations produced by the CA Multi-family Home Energy Retrofit Coordinating Committee (MF HERCC), lessons learned from ARRA funded multi-family programs, and the BayREN Program Implementation Plans submitted to the CPUC.

The multifamily sector is different from the single-family sector in its diversity, upgrade opportunities, and decision making processes. Effective outreach strategies must address the unique characteristics of this sector. Within the Multifamily sector there is diversity characterized by several key variables – physical characteristics, energy systems and metering configuration specific to dwelling units or common areas, and various ownership structures (e.g. rental vs. ownership, low-income vs. market rate) – all of which affect energy upgrade decisions. Unique motivators and barriers exist for multifamily decision makers. There are many discrete economic, financial and regulatory events that may prompt an owner to upgrade their multifamily building. In general, there are a few specific points in a multifamily building’s lifecycle when it is typically more cost effective, convenient and efficient to make green building and energy improvements which are described in more detail in this document as “trigger events”.

BayREN and its Multifamily Committee will develop effective messaging and achieve the outreach and enrollment objectives through targeted leveraging of existing channels.

A. Industry Associations / Introductory meeting and association materials toolkit
Direct referral
Presentations
Industry publications
E-blasts
Web presence
B. City Departments / Introductory meeting and City materials toolkit
Direct referral
Newsletters
Workshops
Web presence
Letter from City
C. Building Professionals / Building professionals toolkit
Training orientation
Client distribution
Web presence
D. Partner Organizations / Articles
Member distribution
Web presence
E. Direct Contact / Direct mail – mass & personalized
Direct email – mass & personalized
Phone calls
In-person meetings

The targeted outreach will be conducted locally by the Counties with regional support from StopWaste. Based upon statewide Energy Upgrade California for Multifamily materials developed by professional consultants, StopWaste will work with ABAG to develop and refine messaging and collateral for review and use by the Counties. The table below summarizes the roles of the Counties and StopWaste.

Task / Counties – Local Role / StopWaste – Regional Role
Messaging & Materials (collateral) / Provide feedback on draft messaging and collateral through Multifamily Committee. / Draft messaging and collateral, coordinate with BayREN, EUC, and PG&E for messaging consistency. Receive Committee feedback and refine.
Industry Associations / Establish relationships with local industry associations. Request e-blasts, article placements, and workshops or other presentation opportunities. / Leverage existing relationships with Multifamily Industry Associations. Provide outreach toolkit for associations. Attend or deliver presentations as requested and appropriate.
City/County Departments / Meet with each city in jurisdiction to seek out property owner lists, direct referrals, and opportunities to partner on workshops, and other outreach activities. Provide City outreach toolkit. / Draft outreach toolkit for cities and refine with Committee feedback. Attend workshops as requested and appropriate.
Building Professionals / Compile list of building professionals for contractor training. Distribute toolkit to local building professionals. / Provide building professionals toolkit and present at regional trainings.
Partner Organizations / Reach out to local organizations. / Provide materials for distributing to partner organizations. Reach out to regional organizations.
Direct Contact / Compile local property owner lists, identify owners of large portfolios, and outreach through direct contact. / Assist with compiling large property owner contacts. Contact regional or national owners with portfolios spanning several counties.
Attend in-person meetings as requested and appropriate.
Outreach Log / Reporting / Report number of tasks accomplished to StopWaste each quarter using template provided by StopWaste. / Maintain compiled log of outreach tasks for reporting and evaluation. Share trends and best practices with Committee.

The plan prioritizes outreach to subsectors with the highest potential yield of dwelling units participating while also reaching typically under-served subsectors. Table 1 identifies high priority market segments and their unique motivators, barriers, and outreach channels.

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Table 1. Market Segment Classification and Description

Classification / Decision Makers & Target Participants / Motivators/Barriers / Increased Value Proposition / Funding Availability / Message Delivery Modes / Associations
1) Market Rate -Professional Developer/ Owner
(REITs) / Owner/Developer
Property Management
Raters
Architects/Design Teams
Property Service Providers
Investors
[staff] Construction Managers
[staff] Energy/ Sustainability Managers / Larger properties with larger budgets; any retrofit has substantial cost; decision is less likely to be motivated by rebates that only cover 1% of costs
Capital improvement budgets; operating budgets Decision relies on interest of investors
Likely more recently built or upgraded; less likely to need any equipment replacement or remediation
Higher density may mean less RE/HVAC savings potential Portfolio level approach – upgrade properties within a portfolio as trigger events occur for each. Initial familiarization with the program will facilitate application to other properties; product and unit turnover specs can be standardized
Split incentives, lack of financing motivators
Decisions made at corporate level; or dedicated staff for energy/sustainability operations, may rely on in-house assumed expertise and not open to outside input
Some have corporate “greening” agendas / Higher rent potential (if not rent-controlled)
Utility payback (if centrally metered)
Green marketing benefits / Larger operating and capital expenditure budgets;
Sophisticated financials;
Able to carry debt / Direct email (or mailer packets) to major PMC's
National conferences
National e-publications
Less effective: Association newsletters/ distributions
Association meeting/event presentations / BOMA
SFAA
IREM - SF
NAA - National
Local Government Economic Development departments
2) Publicly Assisted Non-Profit Housing / Owner/Developer
Property Management
Raters
Architects/Design Teams
Property Service Providers / Limited in ability to raise rent to recoup investment;
Opportunity to compensate with utility allowances;
Requirements tied to funding (green or not);
LIHEAP/WAP programs complicated to access
Direct financial payback is only realized if all or most utilities are centrally metered;
Timing of retrofit financing is main barrier / Fixed rent prohibits increased rental value
Utility allowance
Eligibility for publicly assisted financing / HUD; TCAC; NOFAs (green req’s in applications, PNAs, etc.)
MF WAP / Associations
Direct email/contact to SWO established network
Conferences
Affordable Housing Week
Through finance agencies (CA FHA/TCAC/CDLAC) Housing Authorities; Local Government Housing Offices / EBHO
NPH
Housing California
3) Market Rate- Independent Landlord (owns one or few properties)
"Mom-n-Pop" / Owner/Landlord
Property Service Providers
Contractors?
Raters?
Property Management Co. / May be older, with greater EE potential;
Smaller operating budgets, minimal reserves, lack of access to capital and financing;
Simple decision making structure (typically single owner)
Split incentives, lack of financing motivators / Higher rent potential (if not rent-controlled)
Utility payback (if centrally metered)
Green marketing benefits / Low operating capital;
Owners may be fixed income retirees
WAP/LIEE in some cases / Association newsletters/
distributions; meeting/ event presentations
Property Management newsletters
Less effective: Direct mail via assessor's database / CAA local chapters
AOA of CA
Housing Authorities (MR props that accept Section 8)
NARPM local chapters
4) Condos / HOA Board
HOA General Manager
Property Management Co.
Service Providers / Likely has reserves;
Professionally organized and managed;
Complex decision making structure and process ;
Decision making for in-unit work is decentralized, requiring each owner to consent;
Split incentive issues may be less of an issue since occupants are owners / Higher property value; time of sale of individual units / HOA reserves / HOA/community management associations / CA Assn Community Managers

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Each county in BayREN has committed to actively participate in the Program through local outreach within their jurisdiction. The table below summarizes the targets by county based on concentration of multifamily units.

County / Property Owners Reached / Target Units Served by TA / Target Units Incentivized
Alameda (StopWaste) / 67 / 2,019 / 1,121
Contra Costa / 29 / 883 / 491
Marin / 9 / 266 / 148
Napa / 4 / 87 / 48
San Francisco / 73 / 2,186 / 1,215
San Mateo / 31 / 938 / 521
Santa Clara / 68 / 2,031 / 1,128
Solano (City of Suisun) / 9 / 283 / 157
Sonoma / 10 / 307 / 171
Total / 300 / 9,000 / 5,000

A property owner is considered to be “reached” if Program representatives (including the Counties) have received indication or acknowledgement that they have become aware of the Program. The Program tracks “property owners reached” because one of its goals is to increase awareness among the sector of the benefits of energy efficiency and to refer projects to the appropriate programs. It is understood that even in cases where the outreach activity is not converted into a project in TA or using the bundles measure incentive, it is possible that the project will undertake energy efficiency through another program, or at another date. Both outcomes demonstrate a value added by the outreach activity. The Counties will have guidance through the reporting template as to how they should quantify this metric.

Multi-family Outreach Plan

1 Introduction

2 Background

The Program will target developer/owners and managers of multi-family properties to undertake building upgrades. The multi-family sector differs from the single-family sector in many fundamental ways, and optimal energy improvements cannot be accomplished by merely modifying or expanding the single-family programs.

2.1 Sector Diversity

A central unique challenge in the multi-family sector is diversity and existence of subsectors based on variables shown in the figure below. These building configuration and ownership variables form the multi-family sub-sectors and influence:

§ Which reference standards apply,

§ Who makes upgrade decisions, and therefore which measures will be selected for energy investments and associated payback,

§ The financing and regulatory structure of the project and how that might constrain or encourage energy efficiency decisions, and

§ Whether the improvements occur in common areas, the dwelling units or both.

The diversity of multi-family building types makes it highly challenging to develop program delivery models, incentive programs and consistent packages of building upgrade measures that meet the needs of every situation. The Program will serve projects spanning these sub-sectors, and is designed to be flexible enough to do so effectively. Outreach communications must be designed to be relevant across sub-sectors while also be customizable to particular a sub-sector’s interests.

Multi-family Variables

2.2 Barriers and Motivators

The multifamily sector also faces different opportunities and market barriers than single-family. They are characterized by the following key issues. Specific motivators and barriers vary by building type.

§ Size: Depending on the size of the project, upgrades may be more cost effective due to economies of scale or less cost effective based on the building density and height. Property owners with multiple properties at different stages of repair and upgrade, as well as different building types often do not know where to start in prioritizing properties to work on, the level of investment for specific upgrades and which programs apply. The Program will assist property owners in making decisions across their portfolio of varied property types.

§ Trigger events: During a multifamily building’s lifecycle, there are specific times when it is most cost effective and convenient for the owners to make energy and green building upgrades. Retrofit programs should tailor their services to take advantage of these entry points.

§ Budgets: Multifamily construction projects are expensive. Small incremental incentives alone are not going to cover the cost to install significant building improvements; most projects will require development capital. The most opportune timing for participation in the Program is when financing for significant upgrades have been secured, such as when the property is undergoing rehabilitation and can include incremental costs for green improvements.