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Full Version: Analysis and Documentation of the GERA, UCBA and HUSM Tools
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Since the early 2000s, HUD has funded research for multiple tools that are used to estimate the savings and expenditures associated with the Department’s various energy-related initiatives related to its housing stock.

In February 2009, the Department disbursed approximately $4 billion to Public Housing Authorities and
In-house PD&R staff will analyze the comparative findings from these efforts and develop an information paper documenting the accuracy of the developed models.

Multifamily-assisted Housing Properties through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). These disbursed funds were provided to three programs: Public Housing Capital Fund (PHCF) – Competition, PHCF – Formula, and Green Retrofit Program (GRP) for Multifamily Housing. In support of the ARRA initiative, HUD executed the Green and Energy Retrofit Assessment (GERA) and Utility Consumption Baseline Analysis (UCBA) to estimate the resultant savings from the installed energy and water conservation measures installed within the public and multifamily-assisted housing stocks, respectively. At the conclusion of these two projects, the estimated energy savings from the respective models were compared against the achieved savings.

Approximately two-thirds (??) of the Department’s housing stock operates under the premise that utility expenditures are tenant paid. Under these administered programs, tenants are provided utility allowances (UAs) to cover the typical costs for utilities and services paid by of energy-conserving households. Currently, HUD regulations allow program administers to develop their UAs using any method that they deem fit, regardless as whether the provided UAs exceed the actual cost of the tenant utilities. To assist in generating sound-based UAs, PD&R developed the HUD Utility Schedule Model (HUSM), which uses correlation and regression techniques to develop allowances based upon unit type and size, geographic location, and type of utility used. In September 2015, HUD executed an extension to its existing Quality Control (QC) for Rental Assistance Subsidy Determinations study to determine the usefulness and accuracy of HUSM in determining utility schedules.