Poverty - The Handbuilt City

cocoa brown dog cavalier king charles spaniel in corktown detroit lying on the back porch.

Right-To-Renew, And Other Things

January 12, 2023January 12, 2023 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ann arbor, ann arbor michigan, ann arbor right to renew ordinance, corktown, detroit housing, detroit housing policy, housing in detroit, right to renew, right-to-renew

Gentrification and predatory housing practices led policymakers in Ann Arbor to create a new “right-to-renew” ordinance. Could it be a valuable tool in the fight for tenant protections?

edgewood-dc-rowhouses-mixed-income-housing-units-efficiency

Energy Efficiency Poverty Energy Utilities

Energy Burden: How To Measure? How To Reduce?

September 10, 2021September 10, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments air source heat pump, analytics, CDD, census, census tracts, cooling climate, cooling degree days, decarbonization, EIA, energy, energy efficiency, energy poverty, energy waste reduction, federal poverty line, first energy, HDD, heat pumps, heating climate, heating degree days, LMI, low to moderate income, low-income, metrics, mini-split, pepco, potomac edison, potomac electric power company, program evaluation, red states, reducing energy burden, Rust Belt, smeco, statistics, Tony Reames, urban energy justice lab, utilities, wgl

Measuring energy burden is relatively straightforward. Figuring out how to create robust metrics for it, though– and how to address it- is much more challenging.

Energy Efficiency Urban Planning Poverty Affordable housing Energy

MDHHS and LIHEAP: We’ll Pay For Fossil Fuels. Weatherization, Not So Much.

September 2, 2021September 2, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments Brad Banks, cardi b, CMS energy, coal, coal power, Consumers Energy, DTE, DTE Energy, EE&C, energy efficiency, energy efficiency & conservation, energy waste reduction, fossil fuels, fossil gas, Gretchen Whitmer, LIHEAP, LMI, low to moderate income, low-income, maddy kamalay, michigan, michigan department of health and human services, michigan public service commission, MPSC, Nat Zorach, natural gas, the war on coal, WAP, weatherization assistance program, why is DTE so bad

At an MPSC workgroup meeting this morning on Energy Waste Reduction specifically for the low to moderate income (LMI) market

Energy Efficiency Poverty Energy Utilities

Debt or Asset? How Utility Shutoffs Are About To Be A Big Problem.

March 24, 2021March 24, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ACA subsidies, accounts receivable, chevy aveo, debt, double-entry bookkeeping, dr. tony reames, DTE Energy, energy poverty, harvard business school, investor-owned utilities, investor-owned utility, LIHEAP, mercedes g-wagon, michigan public service commission, MPSC, public service commission, public utilities, regulated corporations, regulated entities, Tony Reames, utilities, utility shutoffs, willy wonka, willy wonka rant

Springtime and mounting debt related to COVID19 means utility shutoffs are coming. At least probably. Here are some ideas for how we can fix our broken systems for utility billing– and how we subsidize utilities through programs like LIHEAP without actually moving the needle on energy poverty.

Sustainability Poverty Energy Housing Utilities

MPSC December Meeting: Neighborhood-Level Equity and Energy

December 3, 2020December 3, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments affordable housing, Brad Banks, Briana Parker, CMS, Consumers Energy, Detroit, DTE Energy, economic justice, Elevate Energy, energy, energy justice, housing, Indiana Michigan Power, mary templeton, metro detroit, michigan, michigan public service commission, MPSC, public utilties, racial justice, racism, redlining, SEAS, segregation, SEMCO, Sharonda Williams-Tack, Sierra Club, Tim Skrotzki, Tony G. Reames, Tony Reames, utilities, water justice

Dr. Tony G. Reames of the University of Michigan, Briana Parker of Elevate Energy, and others presented at an MPSC meeting on some approaches to the question of equity in energy efficiency for low-income communities and communities of color.

Policy Poverty Utilities

Facing A Crisis of COVID, Evictions, and Utility Shutoffs

December 1, 2020December 1, 2020 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments CARES, covid, COVID19, energy audits, energy efficiency, energy insecurity, energy poverty, eviction defense, eviction diversion, evictions, housing insecurity, legal aid, maureen taylor, michigan, michigan welfare rights organization, Poverty, PUA, public utilities, UCHC, united community housing coalition, utility, utility bills, utility policy, weatherization

COVID19 is exposing a particularly ugly nexus between energy insecurity and housing insecurity, referred to in a few separate presentations at a recent workgroup meeting of the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Art & Design Poverty Movements & Organizing