Across the country, low-income customers struggle to pay their utility bills. Their incomes are simply too low to keep up with gas and electric bills. Fortunately, Massachusetts has one of the strongest panoplies of low-income programs and policies in the country to make sure low-income households can maintain critical utility services. These programs include protections…
This NCLC report documents a new wave of predatory real estate lending, previously peddled to African-Americans during the 1930s to 1960s, as Wall Street investment companies move to profit off foreclosed homes. The report urges the CFPB to issue rules to protect vulnerable consumers across the nation.
A car can be an incredibly useful and sometimes indispensable tool for low and moderate income families. Unfortunately many families are unable to get and keep a reliable car at fair terms. While improving public policy is beginning to address some of the abuses in the sale and financing of cars, even in a fair…
Read More about Shifting into Gear: A Revised Guide to Creating or Improving a Car Ownership Program
Local governments are facing financial pressures that necessitate a steady stream of tax revenue. Yet, many homeowners have been negatively affected by the difficult economic times. This report looks at ways in which local governments can assist homeowners who justifiably have payment problems, without also increasing the cost of collection or limiting tax revenues. Most…
Read More about The Other Foreclosure Crisis: Property Tax Lien Sales
This purpose of this guide is to help you access public sources of financing for the purchase, rehabilitation or refinancing of manufactured homes. It is intended as a resource for consumers, nonprofit practitioners and advocates interested in leveraging public funding streams in support of affordable housing and asset building strategies using manufactured housing. In addition…
Read More about Accessing Public Resources for Homes & Communities
AUTHORS: Philip B Jones (Alliance for Transportation Electrification), Jonathan Levy (EVgo/Vision Ridge), Jenifer Bosco (NCLC), John Howat (NCLC), John W Van Alst (NCLC), and Lisa C Schwartz, editor, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The provision of electricity in the United States is undergoing significant changes for a number of reasons. The implications are unclear. The current…
This guide is a resource for anyone interested in promoting the use of manufactured housing as an affordable housing and asset-building strategy through local policy. It examines areas of local policymaking that have potential impact and reviews a sampling of existing and proposed municipal and county ordinances and other policies regarding zoning in single-family zoning…
AUTHORS: Pat KnightErin Camp, PhDDivita BhandariJamie HallMelissa WhitedBen HavumakiAvi AllisonNina PelusoTim Woolf About one-third of U.S. households report that lack of affordable access to energy is a major challenge. Energy insecurity is encountered even more frequently among older adults and households of color. Aselectrification of transportation and heating systems advances, it will be increasingly important…
Read More about Making Electric Vehicles Work for Utility Customers
Smart thermostats – also referred to as wifi thermostats – are promoted as a measure that can produce substantial household energy savings and increased comfort and convenience for residential utility customers, beyond less costly traditional programmable and nonprogrammable thermostats. Interest in smart thermostats as a promising energy savings measure has increased in recent years as…
Read More about Smart Thermostats: Assessing Their Value in Low-Income Weatherization Programs
Future Electric Utility Regulation According to the Partnership for Southern Equity, equity is just and fair inclusion, and energy equity is the fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of energy production and consumption. In the context of electric utility regulation, equity can be a goal, tool, or metric. For example, the primary goal of…
As the health, safety, and economic impacts of the Covid-19 crisis become increasingly clear, the need to universally adopt programs and policies that enhance the affordability of necessary utility service is also highlighted. To win approval of programs and policies to enhance secure access to home energy services, advocates must “make the case” for program…
Read More about Electric Service Discount and Arrearage Management Program Design Template
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