Better Buildings Challenge
Multifamily Sector

The Better Buildings Challenge (BBC) is a voluntary leadership initiative that asks multifamily property owners and managers to make a commitment to improving the energy and water efficiency of their property portfolios by 20% over 10 years and to share their annual progress and lessons learned with the public. The Federal Government provides support to BBC Partners in overcoming obstacles on their journeys and highlights their good work.

The Better Buildings Initiative, of which the Challenge is a part, emerged out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In 2013, the BBC expanded through partnership with HUD beyond the Commercial Sector to include the Multifamily Sector.

As of January 1, 2017 more than 115 multifamily housing providers, representing over 575 million square feet of real estate and impacting roughly 700,000 households, have made energy- and/or water-efficiency commitments through the Better Buildings Challenge. The BBC Multifamily Sector is diverse, including partners that own as few as 2 properties and as many as several thousand, that work in a single place and nationwide, that serve rural and urban areas, that are for-profit and nonprofit, and that offer market-rate and affordable housing. Leaders in energy and water efficiency come in all shapes and sizes and are motivated by the opportunity to reduce operations costs, eliminate energy and water waste, improve tenant health, promote energy independence, and combat climate change.

Each BBC Partner commits to:

Conduct an energy/water efficiency assessment of their property portfolio and pledge an organization-wide energy/water savings goal of at least 20% within 10 years
Publish two short case studies, showcasing an energy/water efficiency project and an organization-wide implementation model
Report results annually by sharing energy/water performance data that demonstrates success