SCC-CIVIC-PG Track B: Designing a Decarbonization- Ready Common Home Assessment

Pecan Street Inc., Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project will enable an interdisciplinary team of energy, health, and equity researchers and community-based organizations (CBOs) develop a research-based toolkit for CBO’s charged with helping low-income families of color access assistance, financing, and incentive programs designed to promote housing and energy security. The focal point of the proposed Phase I effort is to undertake a collaborative design process to develop a Decarbonization-Ready Common Home Assessment that then can be piloted during Phase II in Detroit, Michigan. This effort will also plan for the development of outreach and training materials to support implementation of the Assessment, and research protocols to evaluate impact on low-income households and service providers. This project builds on existing collaborations in Detroit between researchers, CBO’s, and neighborhood groups aimed at better connecting eligible homes with available public resources. Despite collaboration efforts between organizations, social services case managers consistently report frustration that clients who are eligible for services from multiple programs are often discouraged by the need to undertake repetitive and duplicative home assessments. This project is a direct response to repeated requests for a common home assessment protocol that can be used across multiple programs to maximize efficiency and illuminate additional opportunities that may not be immediately apparent depending on the original point of intake. It also takes into account expressions of concern that existing assessments do not map the pathway for concurrent or stepwise investments to decarbonize and improve air quality of homes. To develop this first of its kind Decarbonization-Ready Common Home Assessment, the research team will bring together building knowledge, technical capacity, connective tissue, and buy-in among Detroit’s numerous community-based organizations, environmental groups, energy researchers, municipal and utility staff, technicians tasked with home assessments and energy upgrades, and a variety of other stakeholders. The project will also include development of a toolkit of outreach and training materials, and explore opportunities to streamline data collection and visualization through application of advanced engineering and data science techniques to support its implementation. Research protocols will be established to evaluate impact on low-income households and service providers. Piloting and assessment of the Tool will be implemented during Phase 2. Efficacy of a Common Home Assessment will be documented to serve as a research-based best practice toolkit that will be extensible to other regions. This project is part of the CIVIC Innovation Challenge which is a collaboration of NSF, the Department of Energy's Vehicle Technology Office, and the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate and Federal Emergency Management Agency. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.