ICCT’s Paul Kelly at ONE Wake Internal Assembly speaking about the burden of rising energy utility bills on low income residents – an environmental justice issue.
As a matter of environmental and economic justice, ICCT is committed to energy efficiency equity as an integral part of affordable housing. Environmental justice is one of ICCT’s three guiding principles. To find an avenue to make energy efficiency a reality for low-income residents, ICCT turned to a group already successful in working for affordable housing – ONE Wake, a multi-racial group of religious congregations and non-profits in the Wake County area.
Twenty people from the ICCT network spoke up at ONE Wake listening sessions in the spring of 2023 to share concerns about rising energy utility bills estimated to double within the next 6 years according to a May 24, 2023 news report from WRAL. We also spoke about equal access to IRA federal funding of energy efficiency upgrades for low-income homeowners and especially for renters and their landlords.
As hoped, at the June 8, 2023 Internal Assembly, ONE Wake members voted to continue their focus on affordable housing and to add research and action on unaffordable energy costs. ONE Wake responded by creating a Research Action subcommittee to study the issue for possible action with local officials. Five ICCT leaders have joined that subcommittee.
Many from ICCT have made connections and listened to webinars tracking the rollout of the IRA & IIJA federal funding and its potential to help low to moderate income households decrease energy consumption through repairs, insulation, weatherization, high efficiency heating and air conditioning systems, and access to energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy. It is still far from clear how these monies will become available to local households.
If you are in the Wake County area, you are invited to join us on One Wake’s Affordable Housing Research Team. You can sign up on the ONE Wake site. And please contact us at ICCTriangle@gmail.com if you have questions or you plan to sign up for the subcommittee.
