Landlords brace for ‘green’ plan
By David Clucas
October 30, 2009 —
BOULDER – Residential landlords may soon be forced to make thousands of dollars of energy-efficient upgrades in order to receive a rental license from the city of Boulder.
Boulder officials are proposing the idea as part of its Climate Action Plan to reduce greenhouse emissions. Local landlords oppose the proposals, saying that cost burden will be too great – particularly in midst of the recession – and that reducing energy use lies more with the renter, not the owner.
New construction in Boulder already must adhere to strict green building codes, but this is the city’s first attempt to try and mandate energy efficiency in existing buildings.
Kirk Moors, assistant building official and senior plan reviewer for the city, said the initiative to green rental housing is part of a broader directive from city council and the Climate Action Plan to eventually mandate energy efficiency improvements for all existing homes and businesses in Boulder.
City officials are targeting existing rental housing first because a licensing system is already in place – providing an easy conduit to enforce the green mandates. Residential landlords are required to obtain or renew a rental license from the city every four years. The license requires health and safety inspections, but may soon require green inspections, too.
Specifics of the plan have yet to be decided, but it would likely involve a variety of options for landlords to meet the energy-efficiency requirements, Moors said.
“We’ve got such a wide range of buildings, from multifamily apartment complexes to single-family homes, that we’re considering multiple approaches.”
One would be a prescriptive approach, in which the city would mandate specific energy-efficient upgrades, such as a programmable thermostat and energy-efficient appliances.
The second would be a modeling or point approach, in which the city would mandate a certain reduction in energy use, allowing owners to choose how they would achieve it.
Under the city’s Climate Action Plan, the goal is to reduce emissions by two tons per housing unit by 2012.
“That varies a lot by of type of building, but it roughly translates into improving energy efficiency by 15 to 20 percent,” Moors said.
Local landlords say the goal is over-aggressive for retrofits, and by the city’s own numbers they would have to spend about $4,000 per unit to achieve that goal by 2012.
“It’s kind of like chasing rainbows,” said Sheila Horton, executive director of the Boulder Area Rental Housing Association. “This is a good example of people who don’t have to foot the bill trying to make decisions for people who do pay the bill.”
Horton said any energy-efficiency efforts need to be focused on the tenant rather than the landlord.
“The landlords don’t live on the premises … they’re not in control of the energy use,” Horton said. “They could spend thousands of dollars on these improvements, but the tenants could choose to leave their windows open in the winter or take long showers, and all is lost.”
Horton said a better approach for the city would be to work with landlords on a tenant-education campaign about energy conservation. She said most landlords would be willing to develop an energy owner’s manual for their units on how best to use and conserve energy.
Local landlord John Pugh, who manages 50 rental housing units in Boulder, said the city risks increasing rental prices if they force green improvements on owners.
“A lot of us are small businesses, we don’t have the discretionary income to make these improvements,” he said. “We talk a lot about affordable housing in Boulder, but every mandate the city imposes will just raise the cost of housing here.”
Pugh said the cost of being a landlord in Boulder is already more expensive than most places. The city’s taxes are higher, water rates increased with the implementation of water budgets, and Boulder is one of the very few places that requires rental licenses.
Moors and other city officials claim that the greening Boulder’s rental housing stock will be a benefit to landlords, serving as a marketing tool to energy-conscious tenants. And in order to encourage landlords to go beyond the minimum green requirements, the city has proposed developing a rental energy efficiency rating system. The system would inform renters which properties are the most energy efficient.
Pugh said many of the city’s smaller landlords are just now learning of the new proposed green requirements. He said there likely will be a backlash, including more landlords choosing to skirt the mandates by not getting a rental license.
Moors said city staff hopes to have a proposal ready to go before city council by early 2010.