As the need for sustainable, energy-efficient housing grows, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) is leading the way in supporting affordable housing providers on their journey toward environmental stewardship.
In this next issue of Building Baselines, we sat down with Lauren Westmoreland, SAHF’s Vice President of Energy and Sustainability to discuss the organization’s commitment to equitable decarbonization and sustainability in affordable housing.
Lauren highlights how the work SAHF does goes beyond policy advocacy—it provides practical tools, guidance, and partnership for affordable housing organizations aiming to meet ambitious energy and emissions goals. By focusing on accessible, high-quality data and resident-centered strategies, SAHF empowers its members to make meaningful progress in energy efficiency and climate resilience while ensuring these benefits reach the communities that need them most.
We learned so much from this conversation, we hope you do too.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background, your work with Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) and your role specifically?
My background is architecture, but I took a detour into residential energy efficiency via an AmeriCorps position. I worked as a HERS Rater for the North Carolina SystemVision program, seeing how design was put into practice. That kicked off my passion for ensuring that everyone has access to high-quality, high-performing housing. I’ve continued my career in that direction and now serve as SAHF’s Vice President for our energy and sustainability work.
What led you to joining SAHF?
I joined SAHF because I was drawn to the mission, where we work in partnership with our members (12 leading nonprofit housing providers with close to 150k affordable multifamily rental homes) to source solutions from the field and put policy into practice helping to understand how good ideas can be implemented on-the-ground.
I was and am also still drawn to SAHF’s commitment to racial equity, and efforts to support resident voice and agency. I see this commitment as essential for all energy and sustainability practitioners to center – equitable decarbonization and environmental stewardship can’t happen without centering residents and low-income communities.
SAHF is a national organization. Could you discuss the challenges of supporting members who face a wide range of regional factors, such as varying weather conditions or local policies, that affect their work?
There are a couple of things that help us serve SAHF members, despite having a national focus – first, we are focused on multifamily affordable housing exclusively, meaning there’s often federal regulations, programs and guidance that are applicable across large portions of the SAHF member portfolio. The challenge arises when there is a layering of state and local programs and policies. As an example, utility programs and incentives vary dramatically from state to state, and sometimes from local jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This can make it challenging to take lessons learned on one project and apply it to other places in the country. We’ve identified the same challenges with building performance standards. While there is consistency that multifamily is required to comply, there are significant variances for most other components. including targets, pathways to compliance and calculation of fines.
Let’s dream a bit. Tomorrow, you wake up and every utility can deliver a complete data set for the built world, including Affordable Housing / Multifamily buildings, when owners ask for it. Utility program owners can use it to empower and inform their programs. Customers and building owners can use it to make smarter decisions for their buildings. What are you most excited about and why? What else do you think is possible with this whole building data access?
Currently, SAHF and its members spend a significant amount of staff time managing energy and water data, with several teams dedicating a full-time employee (FTE) and relying on third-party benchmarking services. Streamlining this process would free up valuable time to focus on the actual work at hand.
Furthermore, while we have a substantial understanding of our portfolio, it is still only a partial representation. Encountering anomalies requires either guesswork or extensive investigation, making it challenging to have complete clarity regarding how SAHF member properties are performing with regards to energy.
For example, we’ve examined our solar portfolio and believe it is performing as expected, yet we only have performance data for about half of it. Verifying that the benefits are being fully realized would be incredibly impactful.
Additionally, many Building Performance Standards (BPS) regulations now require a third-party verification of benchmarked utility data to confirm accuracy. Although we understand the need for accuracy, this adds a significant cost for our members. Being able to trust the data without such costly and labor-intensive validation would be immensely useful.
This year, SAHF published a case study showcasing Mercy Housing’s sustainability efforts, in particular creating energy data transparency, across their 26,000 homes nationwide. Affordable housing providers are eager to integrate sustainability across their portfolios, and this commitment deserves the support needed to scale these initiatives for their communities.
Data management challenges persist, but there’s an opportunity for improvement, allowing us to prioritize efforts in areas like deep energy retrofits, solar performance, climate risk, and more.
Given the role whole building consumption data plays in benchmarking buildings, can you share how you have seen the process of gathering data from different utilities around the country?
Experiences with data collection among our members vary widely, and while I’m not directly involved, I frequently hear stories that illustrate the challenges they face.
In some cases, these challenges escalate to the point where members have to engage other team members, and occasionally legal counsel just to access the data they need. They go through all the required steps—completing forms, paying fees—yet despite following these protocols, the data remains out of reach or incredibly slow to receive. It’s an incredibly frustrating process, wasting time and resources for everyone involved.
Does this process seem to be driven by local utility regulations, or by specific utility policies?
Overall, I’ve observed that data access tends to improve when an external authority, such as a public utility commission (PUC), collaborates with the utility, rather than relying solely on the utility’s internal policies. This approach makes sense, as collecting and sharing data incurs costs for utilities, and often requires them to establish new or modified processes. For them to prioritize these efforts, guidance or directives from regulatory bodies like the PSC or PUC are often necessary.
In your opinion, how should energy equity factor into benchmarking and BPS policies?
For an equitable transition to clean energy, we must ensure that these efforts reach all buildings, including those housing low-income residents. I strongly advocate for this inclusive approach, allowing exemptions only when absolutely necessary.
However, we’re also facing a housing crisis, and clean energy initiatives should not worsen this issue. Fortunately, many experts are working on balanced solutions in this area. In Washington, D.C., for example, there’s significant progress being made to support affordable housing in meeting clean energy targets. When these buildings struggle to comply, resources like technical assistance and funding are being made available to keep them accessible and affordable.
From your perspective, what do you perceive to be the biggest barrier(s) to an equitable energy transition today?
There’s a common perception that full electrification must happen immediately, and anything less is a failure. But this is a transition, and we need to approach it thoughtfully. It’s about making progress while recognizing that these are real people living in real buildings. Our focus should be on starting the journey toward electrification in a way that respects both the practical challenges and the human impact.
Since joining SAHF, what has been your exposure to / experience with building level data access from utilities?
SAHF members have been committed to this journey for over a decade, and we’ve supported them every step of the way. Nearly all properties in their portfolios—about 2,000 buildings—are benchmarked in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (ESPM). We have access to view each account and conduct annual data reviews.
Since we began this process, access to whole-building data increased significantly, rising steadily from 2013 to 2020 and ultimately covering over 40% of the portfolio. However, due to various challenges, we’ve observed a plateau in data access since the pandemic.
Can you speak to some of the tools SAHF has built for affordable housing building owners like the SAHF Multifamily Portfolio Carbon Emissions Roadmap, SAHF Multifamily Portfolio Carbon Emissions Calculator, and SAHF Roadmap to 20% Energy Savings?
Absolutely! We created these tools to give portfolio owners a quick, high-level view of their portfolios, helping them gauge the level of action needed to reach their goals.
The Calculator allows users to determine annual emissions for their properties, alerting them if any properties lack whole-building data. When that happens, users can input a placeholder value to better understand their overall emissions. We developed this substitute with Bright Power, using an aggregated baseline from over 10,000 multifamily properties across the country, providing what we believe is the best available approximation.
Next, the Roadmap tool takes that annual emissions data and lets users experiment by applying decarbonization strategies to parts of their portfolio. For instance, it can show the impact of deep energy retrofits on all low-rise buildings in a specific region, allowing users to see potential energy and carbon savings and prioritize accordingly. The tool defaults to the DOE Building Challenge targets—50% emissions reduction, 20% energy savings—but users can customize these targets to align with their own goals.
What role do we need utility regulators to play in this type of market evolution and focus on energy equity?
Affordable housing providers play an essential role in advancing energy efficiency, decarbonization, and environmental sustainability initiatives. They’ve shown a strong commitment to these efforts, with a focus on equitably benefiting residents in their communities. However, to move forward effectively, they need reliable tools—such as accessible, trustworthy whole-building energy data—to get started.
Utility regulators also have a key opportunity to support the affordable multifamily sector. Traditional programs like DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) often can’t fully meet the demand, making utility programs crucial for ensuring that low-income renters have access to these essential energy resources.
In Conclusion
SAHF’s commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability in affordable housing underscores the importance of equitable access to tools, resources, and data that empower providers to make impactful changes. Through dedicated support for affordable housing providers, SAHF has championed the need for accessible whole-building data and built practical tools to guide owners toward emissions reduction and energy savings. The journey, while challenging, reveals opportunities to better serve low-income communities, foster resident-centered decarbonization efforts, and work alongside utility regulators to prioritize these goals. Ultimately, the path to an equitable clean energy transition requires collaboration across sectors, practical tools, and a commitment to sustainable, inclusive housing solutions.
Thank you for the thoughtful conversation, Lauren. To learn more about SAHF, please visit their website here: https://sahfnet.org/
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