How to Unlock the $10.4 Million Dollar Healthy Buildings Ordinance Grant

Details on the federal grant related to the Healthy Buildings Ordinance

I wrote about the Healthy Buildings Ordinance (HBO) last night, since the Evanston City Council will be discussing and voting on it tonight.

As a reminder, Mayor Biss included the HBO in his weekly campaign email this week;

This ordinance is a linchpin of Evanston’s climate action agenda. If it passes, we’ll become the first municipality in Illinois and the second in the Midwest to adopt a policy like this. It is one of the requirements that unlocks the $10.7 million DOE grant we were awarded to reduce building emissions while prioritizing equity, affordability, and workforce development. Passing this ordinance cements Evanston’s leadership in sustainability and gives us access to the resources needed to make these goals a reality.

Let’s talk about the grant!

The Department of Energy Grant (#DESE0001544)

You can find the grant on usaspending.gov. The grant is actually $10,471,400 (not $10.7 million). On that page, you can read the details of the grant. I’ve cleaned up the formatting but not edited the language:

The Healthy Buildings Ordinance (HBO) will regulate, educate, and provide a clear path for Evanston’s largest buildings to comply with the goals outlined in the Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP). This policy will efficiently reduce building emissions while ensuring equitable decision-making, affordability preservation, workforce development opportunities, and cost savings.

By 2050, all Evanston buildings 20,000 square feet or larger will:

• Eliminate onsite emissions

• Achieve high energy efficiency

• Source 100% of electricity from renewable energy

Additionally, workforce development programs will ensure adequate training, while community members will benefit from improved health, comfort, and lower utility costs.

The grant goes on to establish how the money will be spent - which will include three new staff members, compliance software, building audits, and training for 45 clean energy workforce members.

Goal 1: Establish and Implement a Building Performance Standard (BPS)
Ensure the successful creation and adoption of the Healthy Buildings Ordinance that sets energy efficiency and emissions standards for buildings.

Goal 2: Promote Community and Stakeholder Engagement
Engage with local communities, especially disadvantaged and underserved populations, to gather feedback and ensure the BPS reflects community needs and priorities. At least 100 equity-priority buildings will have received an audit and a pathway for compliance. A subset of buildings will receive community benefit building evaluations, including documentation of multiple metrics like energy, comfort, health, and resilience.

Goal 3: Enhance Compliance and Workforce Capacity
Build the necessary internal and external capacity to support BPS implementation, enforcement, and compliance through training, technical assistance, and software solutions. At least 45 new clean energy workforce members will be trained. At least three new city staff will be hired.

In addition, the grant will be used to identify the “least resilient buildings” and offering recommendations and “ensuring access to funding, financing, and third-party incentives” - it’s not clear what that means precisely. The proposal also addresses the Accountability Board, which governs buildings that get a carve out from the ordinance.

The Healthy Buildings Ordinance (HBO) aims to address equity concerns by establishing a stipend-supported Community Advocacy Board (CAB). The CAB will collaborate with city staff to create an equitable foundation for the ordinance, including developing a priority list of equity-concerned buildings.

To support the most vulnerable and least resilient buildings—often those with the highest energy burdens—technical assistance will be provided to educate building managers on compliance requirements. This will include energy audits with tailored recommendations to help them meet HBO standards.

Additionally, the HBO seeks to support buildings that require the most financial assistance by ensuring access to funding, financing, and third-party incentives.

Where is the Money Now?

According to the usaspending.gov record, $0 of the funds have been dispersed, so the City would have to pray that DOGE or the Trump Department of Energy doesn’t interfere with the distribution. Given that the language contains the word “equity” in three different places, I don’t feel too optimistic.

There’s also nothing in the grant language itself or the official documentation to suggest the City needs to pass the HBO first, in order to gain access to funding. In fact, the language in the documentation just suggests there needs to be an implementation plan:

Recipients must develop an implementation plan that provides approaches to achieve full compliance with the adopted code, plans for capacity building to support ongoing implementation, and active workforce training and enforcement programs.

None of the application suggests the grant will go towards upgrading municipal buildings, which means the City of Evanston will be on the hook for somewhere between $17 million and $29 million to upgrade their 1.9 million square feet of facilities.

I’m not sure City Council has really sat with the full cost to both private and public residents for this ordinance, especially since very little green energy funding will be available under a Trump Administration.

Functionally, this ordinance is committing to make a future investment in catalyzing demand upgrading all municipal HVAC systems. I know some of this can be included as part of a new City Hall or other facilities over time, however those plans are not set or even close to being set. The City is just starting their 15 year lease at 909 Davis, so this is going to take a while.

If the Council wants to say, “Yes, we want to upgrade the HVAC systems in every building at cost” that’s their choice - but don’t do it for a $10.4 million grant that you may likely never see, and even if you do get the money - it will all go to staff, consultants, compliance software, audits, and training.