Retrofit LA Cohort Selected To Join Sustainable Communities Investment Accelerator

Ninety-five percent of low-income households in Los Angeles are renters. All are projected to experience more than two months of exposure to dangerous indoor air temperatures annually by 2035. Twenty-seven percent have no access to cooling today, and too many do not to run their air conditioning during extreme heat events, leading to hospitalizations, premature deaths, and other tragedies that do not show up in the data.

Enabling affordable access to cooling nearly eliminates dangerous temperature exposure, but how can owners of low-income housing provide affordable access to cooling while keeping rents affordable amidst rising operating costs and other market pressures?  

Over the past three years, Sustento Group has led the Retrofit LA Cohort through the implementation of a small but significant portfolio of decarbonization retrofit projects. These projects are designed to influence the system by demonstrating real-time solutions to real-world barriers. The work also illuminates the systemic changes necessary to reconcile the competing goals that must be balanced as we seek to preserve and decarbonize affordable housing in Los Angeles’ most vulnerable communities.

• Key accomplishments and lessons learned so far

  • It is possible to finance retrofits of mid-cycle affordable multifamily housing assets in a way that is scalable and efficient for all parties.

  • Until systemic changes are implemented and the market begins to mature, grants and predevelopment support are essential to fill funding and capacity gaps, even on projects with high incentives and 100% upfront financing.

  • Capturing the economic value of health and social co-benefits arising from improved thermal comfort and indoor air quality could enable deeper investment in the immediate term.

Today, we are honored to share that the Retrofit LA Cohort has been selected to participate in the Sustainable Communities Investment Accelerator (SCIA), a two-year initiative led by the Center for Community Investment (CCI) with support from Wells Fargo & Company. Through the SCIA, we will reenvision our work through the lens of the Capital Absorption Framework, with a Shared Priority to “preserve housing affordability while reducing utility burdens and enhancing the health and wellbeing of LA’s most vulnerable communities.” 

This Shared Priority recontextualizes decarbonization as part of a broader “Capital-R” Resilience strategy that also includes: hardening buildings and infrastructure against wildfires and other physical climate risks; valuing and protecting human health and wellbeing; addressing current and historical injustices; repairing relationships; enhancing affordability; stabilizing assets; strengthening organizational capacity; and influencing systemic changes in the enabling environment. 

With this Shared Priority as our north star, we will grow the Retrofit LA pipeline by 500 units over the next two years, while proving out the Revolving Energy Transition & Resilience Fund (RETR-Fund) model and publishing a step-by-step Retrofit Field Guide to streamline future projects, inform systems change, and scale our approach across Los Angeles County and beyond through the Storefront Model.

Meanwhile, our affiliate nonprofit, Sustento Initiative, is partnering with leading educational and research institutions to analyze the health and social impacts of resilience retrofits, create a statewide Systemic Investment Landscape Assessment, and develop training programs to fill critical talent gaps in the sector. Our software company, Sustento Platform, collaborates with leading incentive program implementers, capital providers, and market builders to develop standards-driven technical scaffolding that matches projects with capital sources and supports the establishment of a functioning market. Sustento Company, our parent organization, actively coordinates the portfolio to create a feedback loop that powers deep, accessible, and sustained change, transforming theory into enduring systems.

In the words of Buckminster Fuller: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Our current system has lifted billions out of poverty, but – as our values evolve, as we bump up against planetary boundaries – our models no longer serve us.

It’s time to shift from silos to systems – to create new models that enable communities to heal, and to thrive in balance with nature for generations to come.

We will share insights and emerging knowledge through a series of blogs over the next two years. Sign up below.