Authorizing the Mayor to submit to the United States Government, Department of Housing and Urban Development, an application for a grant under the "Innovative Grants for Community Energy Conservation Program."

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INNOVATIVE GRANT FOR COMMUNITY ENERGY CONSERVATION PROGRAM ABSTRACT The City of South Bend proposes to undertake a community energy awareness project under the auspices of HUD's Innovative Grants for Community Energy Conservation. The purpose of our program is three -fold: 1. To demonstrate linkages between energy conservation activities and community revitalization efforts. 2. To involve low and moderate income residents of inner -city neighborhoods in an active role in local conservation efforts. 3. To encourage voluntary participation by homeowners and renters in energy saving activities. We plan to show that older, energy inefficient homes in our inner city neighborhoods cannot only be preserved, but can be models for energy conservation. We also plan to use the Innovative Grant to spur inner city residential development, by actually con- structing four or five new, modest single family homes on vacant lots in our neigh- borhood strategy areas. These homes would have numerous energy- saving devices incor- porated into their construction. South Bend is a city of neighborhoods, and the strength of its inner -city neigh- borhoods is in their organizations. We intend to tap this resource to assist in the community energy awareness project by training members of neighborhood organizations to perform energy audits for their own neighbors. The Community Energy Awareness Project will consist of four activities: 1. Houses in NSA's will be audited by Energy Auditors, trained by IUSB's Center for Energy Conservation. Members of neighborhood organizations will also be trained as surveyors. These surveyors will branch out throughout their neighborhoods, performing energy audits upon request. 2. Residents of Neighborhood Strategy Areas whose homes have been audited will be encouraged to install the energy- saving retrofits deemed necessary. In order to provide such encouragement, financial assistance will be provided, either through existing rehab programs funded with CDBG dollars, the ACTION weatherization program, or through an energy improvement rebate, funded through this innovative grant, which will function in the same way as the existing rehab rebate program. 3. One vacant, substandard home in each NSA (total -six) will be acquired and rehabilitated using CDBG and /or Innovative Grant funds. More than simple code rehab- ilitation work will be done on these homes; every possible energy- saving retrofit appropriate to rehabilitation of older homes will be installed. The homes will serve as models and bases for the neighborhood energy auditors for a period of time and then will be sold to moderate income families. 4. Through a contractual agreement with a neighborhood -based non - profit organization, four to five new homes will be constructed in a Neighborhood Strategy Area. During the planning phase, the location of this new construction activity would be determined using certain criteria, including availability of vacant lots, en- vironmental factors which would facilitate the use of energy- saving features, and potential for revitalizing an area. The houses would be built by private contractors;