Innovative program funds hurricane preparedness and repair projects, renewable energy, other home improvements
MIAMI, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Town of Miami Lakes has approved the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) home improvement financing option through industry leader Home Run Financing, joining almost 200 other Florida communities in giving homeowners access to this innovative mechanism to fund renewable energy, energy efficiency and hurricane hardening upgrades. The Village of Miami Shores and the City of Sweetwater also approved Home Run Financing’s PACE financing over the past year, joining more than 20 other Miami-Dade municipalities where their PACE program is approved.
PACE enables homeowners to make relevant upgrades, then pay over time through their property taxes. Because of this payment mechanism, PACE providers must be approved by the local county or municipality, providing robust consumer protections for homeowners.
“More and more Florida homeowners can now afford to make hurricane hardening upgrades because of PACE,” said Robert Giles, CEO of Home Run Financing. “And because this financing model provides access to capital for underbanked, underfinanced communities, we are helping to expand hurricane preparedness to more communities than ever.”
Home Run Financing’s PACE program is available to homeowners in 195 communities in Florida, spread broadly throughout the state, from Pensacola in the far west end of the panhandle, to Nassau County in the northeast corner, down much of the Atlantic Coast to West Palm Beach and Miami. Local government approvals have made the company’s PACE financing available in six of the ten most populous cities in the state, including Tallahassee, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale in addition to Miami.
This innovative financing mechanism helps communities upgrade their housing stock to be more energy efficient and more resilient in the face of natural disasters, while creating good jobs in the clean energy sector.
In the four years their program has been available in Florida, Home Run Financing has already funded $57 million in hurricane hardening home upgrades, as well as $47 million in energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades, saving Florida homeowners $3 million every year on their energy bills. These renovations have already set in place carbon emissions reductions equivalent to taking 5,000 cars off the road for a year.
The PACE financing model has evolved significantly over the last decade. It now provides the strongest consumer protections of any home improvement financing product, with homeowner identity verification measures; recorded confirmation of terms calls conducted in English or Spanish to ensure the homeowner understands the financing; a further recorded call in English or Spanish to verify the project is complete before the contractor gets paid; third-party inspection of completed projects; rigorous contractor oversight and training; and additional protections for the elderly and low-income homeowners, among several other stringent consumer protection measures.
Learn more at www.homerunfinancing.com.
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Severn Williams, 510-336-9566
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