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.

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

Learn more about the Better Buildings Initiative +

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.

Visit DOE's websites to:

Learn more about the Better Buildings Challenge, in general

View the BBC Multifamily Sector subpage

Access the wide-range of case studies from BBC Partners in the Better Buildings Challenge Solution Center

Learn more about the Better Buildings Financing Navigator, a tool to explore financing options

Visit HUD's websites to:

Learn more about BBC Multifamily Sector eligibility, commitment, and incentives

Check out the current list of Multifamily Partners

Request Technical Assistance from HUD as a current BBC Multifamily Sector Partner

Access HUD’s Multifamily Utility Benchmarking Tools and Resources

Energy and Water Efficiency Resources

Access technical resources, policy guidance, planning tools, and other resources to improve the energy and water performance of your multifamily housing portfolio.