House of Solar

Now that some 22 states have embraced PACE – the municipal financing mechanism under which homeowners can install renewable energy or energy efficiency assets with few upfront costs, and with repayment based on property tax assessments – you’d have thought its obvious popularity would have spread joy to all quarters.

It hasn’t, and perhaps you can help.

One quarter the joy hasn’t reached is the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the regulator of government mortgage corporations Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  According to a statement it issued on July 6, the agency ‘has determined that (PACE programs) present significant safety and soundness concerns that must be addressed.’  In urging state and local governments to reconsider these programs, FHFA has effectively brought the whole PACE movement to a halt.