Scot Haislip, Esq. 

U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced this week that nearly 200 apartment units in New York City will become more energy efficient as the result of $3.6 million in funding being awarded to Jonathan Rose Companies, a New York-based property owner and developer. It is the first award to be announced under HUD's new Green Retrofit Program for Multifamily Housing, created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

On Monday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took steps to issue regulations on greenhouse gases. This would enable the administration to limit emissions across the economy even if Congress does not pass so called “cap and trade” legislation.

The California Green Building Code officially went into effect at the beginning of this month. Though now in effect, the CalGreen Code does not become mandatory until 2010, giving developers a one year transition period to ensure compliance. Does this represent the future for Building Codes across the country?

In its April 29, 2009 Washington Update the National Multi Housing Council provided a brief summary of recently proposed New York City legislation that would address building energy consumption. As NYC is often looked to by other localities as a model when creating their own legislation on a particular issue I wanted to reproduce NMHC’s brief here just in case anyone missed it in the Washington Update. Any questions regarding this legislation can be direct either to myself or NMHC directly.

On April 1 I spoke at the Apartment Finance Today Conference regarding the future of green in the multifamily housing industry. At this roundtable panel session the question of what potential legal issues owners/managers may face due to green practices peaked attendees interest so I will address it here today. Green real estate methods are still fairly new in the U.S.; therefore little formal legal analysis exists regarding the subject. Nonetheless, a handful of civil suits have been filed in a few states, and most attorneys expect to see more in the coming years. With this in mind, below are a few (but certainly not all) of the legal issues multifamily developers and managers may want to consider when “going green.” In the future I will post more entries on other areas of this topic.

It's no secret the number of “green” regulation is exploding across the nation. In fact, experts predict that the number of localities with green mandates will at least double within the next four years. Many green regulations focus on new construction, for example requiring new buildings to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification; however, there is one green regulatory initiative that will certainly affect the finances of all multifamily properties, both new and established...Cap and Trade.