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REPUBLICA PRESS
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affordability

Stake – Cash Back and Banking Services for Renters –  Raises $12 Million in Series A Funding

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NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Stake, which provides Cash Back and banking services to renters, announced today the completion of its $12 million Series A financing round. With Stake, renters earn Cash Back when they take positive actions, like signing a lease and paying rent. Owners save money with every renter action.

The round was led by RET Ventures, which selected Stake as one of the first investments for the new RET Ventures ESG Fund (the “Housing Impact Fund”). Participation also included: Enterprise Community Partners, which, since 1982, has helped create or preserve 873,000 homes; Hometeam Ventures; Operator Stack; and Second Century Ventures, the investment arm of the National Association of Realtors. Existing investors Shadow Ventures and Olive Tree Ventures also participated in the round.

Today more than 44 million American households pay rent every month, and from 1985 to 2020, median rent prices increased by nearly 150% despite income growing just 35%. Leveraging behavioral science, Stake was founded in 2018 to empower renters by providing them with Cash Back on their rent as well as no-fee banking services to build savings. Stake also mitigates pain points for building owners, increasing lease-ups, reducing economic vacancy, improving maintenance, and increasing ancillary revenue.

Using Stake, property managers receive a 130% return on every dollar spent. Renters earn an average of 4% Cash Back on their rent each month. Across the $385 million in annual leases connected to the platform, 65% of renters have more money in their Stake account than any other banking account. In the past year, the number of residences that offer Cash Back with Stake has grown by 10x.

“Renters don’t need more debt or loans,” noted Rowland Hobbs, Co-Founder and CEO of Stake. “What renters need is money to help with everyday essentials and to establish long-term savings. With Stake, we have reimagined the classic ‘rainy day fund’ for renters to build the sort of wealth traditionally associated with home ownership. Now, their largest expense is also their largest source of savings.”

The new funding round will enable Stake to continue building out its financial infrastructure and suite of solutions that address difficult issues for renters and property owners alike.

“Stake’s approach to housing affordability is perfectly aligned with the mission of our ESG-centric fund,” said John Helm, partner at RET Ventures, who will join Stake’s board. “While a slew of platforms offer renters innovative payment options, they are all credit or debt-based. They ultimately encourage dangerous behaviors as part of their proposed solution. Stake flips the script on this model by offering a risk-free, renter-centric, efficient, and easy-to-use pathway toward building wealth.”

“Unlike homeowners, renters rarely reap financial benefits from paying for their homes – and families who rent tell us they could use a little extra cash each month. This is why Stake’s goal of empowering more economically resilient renters through cash back and no-fee banking services resonated with us,” said Enterprise Community Partners President and CEO Priscilla Almodovar. “It’s not just a good deal for renters. It makes sense for landlords, too, who are more likely to retain residents, which in turn strengthens communities.”

About Stake

Stake is building the financial infrastructure for the next generation of rentals. Stake aligns incentives between renters, operators, owners, and investors, so everyone earns the Return on Rent™ they deserve. Stake’s revenue management tools outperform, returning 130% on every dollar spent. These savings return millions of dollars to renters each year in the Stake app. Thousands of renters use Stake to earn Cash Back, grow their savings, and access free and equitable banking services. Headquartered in New York City and Seattle, Stake is on a mission to empower wealthier, happier, and more resilient renters. For more information, please visit https://www.stake.rent/

About RET Ventures

A leading real estate technology investment firm, RET Ventures is the first industry-backed, early-stage venture fund strategically focused on building cutting-edge “rent tech” — technology for multifamily and single-family rental real estate. RET invests out of core venture funds and a Housing Impact Fund, backing companies that address a range of pain points for real estate operators. Through its deep expertise and connections, RET provides solutions to issues ranging from housing affordability and sustainability to risk management and operational efficiency. The firm’s Strategic Investors include some of the largest REITs and private real estate owner-operators and managers, who control approximately 2.4 million rental units worth $600 billion. For more information, please visit www.ret.vc

About Enterprise Community Partners

Enterprise is a national nonprofit that exists to make a good home possible for the millions of families without one. We support community development organizations on the ground, aggregate and invest capital for impact, advance housing policy at every level of government, and build and manage communities ourselves. Since 1982, we have invested $54 billion and created 873,000 homes across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico – all to make home and community places of pride, power and belonging. Join us at enterprisecommunity.org.

*Stake is a financial technology company and is not a bank. Banking services provided by Blue Ridge Bank N.A; Member FDIC. The Stake Visa® Debit Card is issued by Blue Ridge Bank N.A. pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted.

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Fed Raises Interest Rate Half a Percentage Point, Largest Increase Since 2000

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Deciding how quickly to remove policy support is a fraught exercise. Central bankers are hoping to move decisively enough to arrest the pop in prices without curbing growth so aggressively that they tip the economy into a deep downturn.

Mr. Powell nodded to that balancing act, saying, “I do expect that this will be very challenging — it’s not going to be easy.” But he said the economy had a good chance “to have a soft, or soft-ish, landing.”

He later elaborated that it could be possible to “restore price stability without a recession, without a severe downturn, and without materially higher unemployment.”

The balance sheet plan the Fed released on Wednesday matched what analysts had expected, which probably also contributed to the sense of market calm. The Fed will begin shrinking its nearly $9 trillion in asset holdings in June by allowing Treasury and mortgage-backed debt to mature without reinvestment. It will ultimately let up to $60 billion in Treasury debt expire each month, along with $35 billion in mortgage-backed debt, and the plan will have phased in fully as of September.

By reducing its bond holdings, the Fed is likely to take steam out of financial markets — bond prices will fall, causing yields to rise, and riskier investments like stocks will become less attractive. It also could help to cool the housing market by pushing up longer-term borrowing costs, which follow bond yields, reinforcing the effect of the central bank’s interest rate increases.

In fact, mortgage rates have already begun to push higher, climbing nearly two percentage points since the start of the year. The rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.1 percent for the week that ended last Thursday, according to Freddie Mac, touching its highest level in more than a decade.

The Fed’s moves “will quickly make financing big-ticket purchases more challenging.” Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Cox Automotive, wrote in a research note after the meeting. “This is exactly what the Fed wants to see. As demand for homes, cars and other durables declines in response to declining affordability, the rate of price increases should slow as well.”

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Wells Fargo Expands Efforts to Advance Racial Equity in Homeownership

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SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Systemic inequities in the United States have prevented too many minority families from achieving their homeownership and wealth building goals for too long. As the largest bank home mortgage originator, and largest bank originator of home loans to minorities over the last decade, Wells Fargo believes it has a responsibility to develop solutions that help close the gap. As a next step in meeting that responsibility, Wells Fargo today announced a new initiative to help advance racial equity in homeownership across the country. The company will develop a Special Purpose Credit Program (SPCP) to help minority homeowners, whose mortgages are currently serviced by Wells Fargo, refinance those mortgages. Initially, through the program, Wells Fargo will identify eligible Black homeowners who could benefit from a refinance product. Wells Fargo will commit $150 million to lower mortgage rates and reduce the refinancing costs to help these homeowners further benefit from refinancing. This program goes beyond the usual lending programs and puts the company’s own money to work refinancing minority families’ homes. The company will assess its progress and will publicly disclose it annually.

Wells Fargo will also:

  • Expand its partnerships with the National Urban League and UnidosUS to broaden community outreach efforts for this and other programs, provide homebuying readiness and counseling, and work to eliminate systemic obstacles that prevent many Black and Hispanic customers from achieving their homeownership goals.
  • Commit, through the Wells Fargo Foundation, $60 million in “Wealth Opportunities Restored through Homeownership” (WORTH) grants projected to support 40,000 homeowners of color in eight markets that have significant homeownership gaps between white and minority families. WORTH grants will run through 2025 and will fund public-private partnerships that develop and implement plans to address the root causes of those homeownership gaps.

“Wells Fargo has long been a leader in lending to minority families. These efforts are an important next step and will help close the homeownership gap between white and minority families created by decades of systemic inequities,” said Kristy Fercho, CEO of Wells Fargo Home Lending. “We are taking meaningful action by reimagining the homeownership journey to support minority families in realizing the dream of homeownership.”

In 2020, Wells Fargo was the largest bank lender for home mortgages to Black families. This is consistent with the company’s performance over the last decade (2011 – 2020) in which it helped as many Black families purchase homes as the next three largest bank lenders combined.

Additionally:

  • Wells Fargo helped more Black homeowners refinance their mortgages in 2020 than any other bank.
  • The 83% increase in the company’s refinance loans to Black homeowners in 2020 compared to 2019 also was by far the biggest gain among the largest banks.
  • In 2021, Wells Fargo increased that total by 106% compared to 2020.

The company is a long-time leader in the housing finance industry:

  • Between 2017 and 2021, Wells Fargo has helped more than 425,000 Black and Hispanic families achieve their homeownership goals with $110 billion in financing.
  • Since 2019, Wells Fargo has allocated nearly $400 million to help address the housing affordability crisis in the country including homelessness, available and affordable rentals, transitional housing and homeownership.
  • Since 2021, Wells Fargo Home Lending CEO, Kristy Fercho, has served as chair of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and has led the Affordable Homeownership Workstream within the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) Project REACh, a project to promote financial inclusion through greater access to credit and capital.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets, proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small businesses in the U.S., and is the leading middle market banking provider in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of banking, investment, and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 37 on Fortune’s 2021 rankings of America’s largest corporations. In the communities we serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small business growth, financial health, and a low-carbon economy. News, insights, and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com | Twitter: @WellsFargo.

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements about our future financial performance and business. Because forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding the future, they are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Do not unduly rely on forward-looking statements as actual results could differ materially from expectations. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and we do not undertake to update them to reflect changes or events that occur after that date. For information about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations, refer to our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the discussion under “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website at www.sec.gov.

News Release Category: WF-PS

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Saint-Gobain North America and Partners Present Keys for Sustaining Futures, Raising Communities Home

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CANTON, Ohio–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Saint-Gobain North America co-hosted a dedication ceremony for its Sustaining Futures, Raising Communities home, alongside program partners the Tyson family, Charis Homes and Habitat for Humanity East Central Ohio.

“We believe that everyone should have access to safe, sustainable, affordable housing, and it warms our hearts to see the Tysons move into their new home,” said Mark Rayfield, CEO of Saint-Gobain North America and CertainTeed. “Our company’s purpose is to make the world a better home, and we’re thrilled to see our Sustaining Futures, Raising Communities program make a tangible impact, starting with this home for the Tysons.”

The event included:

  • A key ceremony with Marjorie and Bradley Tyson, who will purchase the home with an affordable 0% interest mortgage through Habitat for Humanity East Central Ohio and monitor their experience living there, including its energy performance
  • A tour of the unique home, which was built by Charis Homes with industry-leading sustainable solutions from SGNA, as well as universal design features
  • A welcome to the neighborhood from Stark County Commissioner Richard Regula
  • A house blessing by Habitat for Humanity East Central Ohio

“This home is such a blessing for my family,” said Bradley Tyson. “We’ve always dreamed of being homeowners and now that dream has come to life—we have an efficient, sustainable and affordable place to call our own. This will be our forever home and we couldn’t be more thankful.”

The Sustaining Futures, Raising Communities program kicked off in August 2021 to bring more sustainable construction to neighborhoods across North America. Charis Homes, a U.S. Department of Energy, Zero Energy Ready Home Partner, built the home. They are the first builder in Ohio to meet and exceed the U.S. Department of Energy Guidelines for excellence and quality, in 2015. In addition, they earned five annual U.S. Housing Innovation awards and one grand prize award in 2019.

“In the construction industry, it can be hard to come by sustainable trade expertise and suppliers,” said Glenna Wilson, president of Charis Homes. “Today’s dedication proves that we can make it happen—and for more families. With the right solutions from SGNA and CertainTeed, we’ve built a zero energy ready home from the ground up.”

Saint-Gobain North America partnered with affordable housing expert Habitat for Humanity East Central Ohio to identify the Tysons, a family who will greatly benefit from the features of this unique home. The home will be affordable for Bradley and Marjorie with a 0% interest mortgage through Habitat, and the construction of the home will provide lower energy costs and increased wellbeing for the Tysons and their two children.

“When Bradley and Marjorie hold the keys that unlock this home, they also hold the keys that unlock doors of opportunity for themselves and their daughters,” said Beth Lechner, executive director of Habitat. “Today we celebrate dreams of homeownership, milestones in housing affordability and sustainability, and partnerships that make a lasting impact and point us all toward a more promising future.”

To learn more and see updates about the partnership, please visit SustainingFuturesRaisingCommunities.com and social media using the hashtag #SustainingFuturesRaisingCommunities.

About Saint-Gobain

Worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Its integrated solutions for the renovation of public and private buildings, light construction and the decarbonization of construction and industry are developed through a continuous innovation process and provide sustainability and performance. The group’s commitment is guided by its purpose, “MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME.”

€38.1 billion in sales in 2020

More than 170,000 employees, located in 72 countries

Committed to achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2050

For more details on Saint-Gobain, visit http://www.saint-gobain.com and follow us on Twitter @saintgobain.

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Institutional Property Advisors Closes $80 Million San Bernardino County Apartment Asset Sale

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UPLAND, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), announced the sale of The Benson, a 236-unit multifamily property in Upland, California. The asset sold for $80.75 million, or $342,161 per unit.

“The Benson benefits from significant capital expenditures, most of which were spent on systems and common area improvements,” said Joseph Grabiec, IPA executive director. “New ownership has the opportunity to focus on revenue enhancing interior upgrades consistent with the competitive set, thereby immediately adding value.” Grabiec and IPA’s Alexander Garcia, Jr., Kevin Green, Greg Harris and Chris Zorbas represented the seller, an affiliate of Abacus Capital Group, and procured the buyer, New Standard Equities. “Rents in Upland have increased by 13% in the last 12 months and the competitive set’s asking rents are approximately 35% higher than the average in-place rents at The Benson,” added Garcia. “Average occupancy in Upland over the same time period has been 97%.”

Located 1.4 miles from the Los Angeles County border, the property is near Claremont Colleges, the Montclair TransCenter, and extensive retail. The San Bernardino Metrolink line at the Montclair TransCenter, three regional rapid bus service providers, and convenient access to a multitude of freeways offer connectivity to surrounding employment centers in the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley.

“The Inland Empire continues to experience impressive growth and job creation, and this surge in economic activity has intensified the demand for housing,” said Green. “Single-family home prices have increased 13% over the last 12 months and are projected to grow 10% over the next 12 months, further exacerbating the affordability gap to home ownership and fueling strong rent growth.”

The Benson was built in 1973 on a 516,578-square-foot lot. The asset has 32 residential buildings, two resort-style pools with furnished sundecks, a spa, fitness center, dog park, playground, and over 350 onsite parking spots. The unit mix is composed of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Each unit has a private balcony or patio.

About Institutional Property Advisors (IPA)

Institutional Property Advisors (IPA) is a division of Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI), a leading commercial real estate services firm in North America. IPA’s combination of real estate investment and capital markets expertise, industry-leading technology, and acclaimed research offer customized solutions for the acquisition, disposition and financing of institutional properties and portfolios. For more information, please visit www.institutionalpropertyadvisors.com.

About Marcus & Millichap (NYSE: MMI)

With over 2,000 investment sales and financing professionals located throughout the United States and Canada, Marcus & Millichap is a leading specialist in commercial real estate investment sales, financing, research, and advisory services. Founded in 1971, the firm closed 8,954 transactions in 2020 with a value of approximately $43 billion. Marcus & Millichap has perfected a powerful system for marketing properties that combines investment specialization, local market expertise, the industry’s most comprehensive research, state-of-the-art technology, and relationships with the largest pool of qualified investors. To learn more, please visit: www.MarcusMillichap.com.

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Waterford and CSCDA Expand into San Diego County with Acquisition of Three Escondido Multifamily Properties as part of Essential Housing Program, Lowering Rents for Qualified Residents

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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Waterford Property Company (Waterford) in partnership with the California Statewide Community Development Authority (CSCDA), a joint powers authority, has announced the acquisition of three Escondido multifamily properties, including:

  • Alcove Apartments, a 112-unit community, built in 2019, located at 650 North Centre City Parkway
  • Haven76 Apartments, a 76-unit apartment community, built in 2016, located at 2414 South Escondido Boulevard
  • Rowan Apartments, a 126-unit apartment community, built in 2020, located at 700 West Grand Avenue

Waterford and CSCDA acquired the properties for $157 million from Lyon Living, the original owner and developer. Kyle Pinkalla of Northmarq represented the seller.

Upon taking ownership, Waterford, as project administrator for the property, and CSCDA will immediately lower rents for qualified new residents making between 80 to 120 percent of the area median income (AMI) under CSCDA’s workforce housing program. This program was created in response to a serious shortage of affordable workforce housing for those that have been termed the “missing middle,” individuals and families that earn too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing, but not enough to afford market rate rents in the communities where they work. As part of this program, annual rent increases are capped at no more than four percent and existing tenants that do not meet the income restrictions can remain in place until they elect to leave.

“When we look at the essential housing portfolio we’ve built this past year, we can see how powerful this program can be in bringing housing affordability to the missing middle demographic. With this program, Waterford is making a real difference in the lives of the state’s teachers, government employees, military, and first responders, among others, who can now stay housed in the communities where they work and serve,” said Sean Rawson, co-founder, Waterford Property Company. “The timing of this essential housing program is critical, as it provides immediate savings at a time when market rate rents across the state continue to rise.”

Average in-place rent across this Escondido portfolio per unit are currently $2,800. As part of this essential housing program, average per unit rent with the new rent restrictions in place will be $2,459. With this program, residents of these three Escondido communities will realize an average discount to current in-place rents of 12.2 percent and a discount to market rate rents of 13.8 percent.

Escondido Councilmember Consuelo Martinez commented that, “Middle income housing is something that doesn’t get built in our state and it’s highly needed.” She further shared, “What is important for me is ensuring that Escondido residents can stay living in Escondido and that rents don’t continue to skyrocket.”

The Escondido City Council unanimously approved the program during its October 28, 2021 City Council meeting.

“We’re seeing double digit rent growth throughout San Diego County in 2021. For example, market area rents in this region have grown 4.5 percent per year over the last five years. Rents even rose in 2020 despite COVID, rising 2.4 percent, which underscores the strength of North San Diego County,” added John Drachman, co-founder, Waterford. “This is a vital solution to countering the rising cost of housing in California, which is why many of the cities we are working with are now adding more properties to this essential housing program.”

With this portfolio acquisition, Waterford now administers 15 communities in Southern California that have been converted from market rate to essential housing bringing its portfolio to 4,014 units and over $2.4 billion of tax-exempt bond issuances, confirming the firm as the most active sponsor in CSCDA’s middle income housing program in California.

Waterford Property Company is a diversified real estate investment and development company with an established track record in the acquisition and development of over $2 billion in multifamily and commercial properties. Its expertise includes developing mixed-use multifamily projects throughout California, developing and investing in affordable housing and repositioning existing commercial properties. It is led by its co-founders John Drachman and Sean Rawson. For more information, visit www.waterfordco.com.

CSCDA is a joint powers authority founded by the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties in 1988 to enable local government and eligible private entities access to low-cost, tax-exempt financing for projects that provide a tangible public benefit, contribute to social and economic growth and improve the overall quality of life in local communities throughout California. CSCDA is comprised of more than 530 cities, counties and special districts, and has issued more than $65 billion through 1,700 plus transactions across its diverse public benefit financing programs. For more information, visit www.cscda.org.

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AHF: L.A. Times Ad Highlights Barclay Hotel’s New Life as Affordable Housing

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LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AHF and its Healthy Housing Foundation hosted a turn-of-the-century themed holiday reception and cornerstone plaque dedication ceremony Wednesday in Downtown Los Angeles to mark AHF’s acquisition and conversion of the Barclay Hotel to affordable housing for extremely-low-income and formerly homeless individuals. AHF purchased the 158-unit Barclay—the oldest continually operating hotel in Los Angeles—in October and has been working to renovate and upgrade the units before people move in. The Barclay is located at 103 West 4th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013.

To mark the occasion, AHF and the Healthy Housing Foundation will also run a new advocacy ad in the Los Angeles Times to highlight this latest acquisition and encourage and promote the adaptive reuse of existing older buildings as affordable housing stock. It is set to run this Sunday, December 26, 2021. Headlined “The Barclay is Reborn,” the full-page, four-color newspaper ad shares an old photo of the hotel from a bygone era with the simple text:

“Reimagining a classic historic hotel, as a low-cost housing solution, to an urgent humanitarian crisis for 158 Angelenos. The Healthy Housing/AHF family is 1,183 units at 11 properties with more on the way.”

The ad closes with the tagline “There are practical, affordable solutions if we truly care.”

Speakers at the Barclay plaque dedication event this week included Michael Weinstein, AHF President; Dominique Eastman, Regional Property Operations Manager for AHF’s Healthy Housing Foundation, who was at one point himself unhoused; Hon. Tony Vazquez, California Board of Equalization Member; Hon. Henry Stern, California Senator – 27th District; Michael Lawson, Los Angeles Urban League President and Cynthia Davis, MPH, AHF Board Member.

The Barclay Hotel becomes the eleventh hotel or motel in the Los Angeles area that Healthy Housing Foundation has purchased and repurposed as homeless or extremely-low-income housing since 2017 when AHF first kicked off its housing program. In addition to the Barclay Hotel, Healthy Housing also has one additional L.A. area hotel purchase for use as affordable housing pending, near HHF’s Sinclair Hotel, which became part of AHF’s ‘family of housing’ in April. Healthy Housing Foundation also has plans to build new affordable housing units in Fort Lauderdale near its AHF Southern Bureau Headquarters and many of its AHF affiliate organizations across the U.S. are also involved in providing affordable housing in their communities.

AHF launched Healthy Housing Foundation in 2017 to address the rampant affordable housing crisis sweeping the nation by providing fast, easy, and compassionate access to affordable housing with a focus on addressing the needs of low-income individuals, struggling families, youth, and those living with chronic illness.

“AHF’s Healthy Housing Foundation focuses on the faster, much less expensive model of adaptive reuse of existing buildings, repurposing them as housing for those previously unsheltered, homeless and/or for extremely-low-income individuals,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF. “We wanted to highlight this housing model with a festive, old-time holiday-themed reception and plaque dedication ceremony recognizing and honoring the long history of the Barclay and also celebrating its new life as affordable housing for those in need.”

AHF previously renovated and repurposed ten historic or older Los Angeles buildings. With this latest building, AHF has now created a combined total of 1,183 units in L.A. in our effort to more quickly house individuals and families.

“Due to the enormity of the homeless and housing affordability crises, we need viable solutions that are economic and fast because communities—and the people in those communities—simply cannot wait any longer,” added Weinstein.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.6 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us @aidshealthcare.

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Why Louisiana’s Electric Grid Failed in Hurricane Ida

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Just weeks before Hurricane Ida knocked out power to much of Louisiana, leaving its residents exposed to extreme heat and humidity, the chief executive of Entergy, the state’s biggest utility company, told Wall Street that it had been upgrading power lines and equipment to withstand big storms.

“Building greater resiliency into our system is an ongoing focus,” the executive, Leo P. Denault, told financial analysts on a conference call on Aug. 4, adding that Entergy was replacing its towers and poles with equipment “able to handle higher wind loading and flood levels.”

Mr. Denault’s statements would soon be tested harshly. On the last Sunday in August, Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana and dealt a catastrophic blow to Entergy’s power lines, towers and poles, many of which were built decades ago to withstand much weaker hurricanes. The company had not upgraded or replaced a lot of that equipment with more modern gear designed to survive the 150 mile-an-hour wind gusts that Ida brought to bear on the state.

A hurricane like Ida would have been a challenge to any power system built over many decades that contains a mix of dated and new equipment. But some energy experts said Entergy was clearly unprepared for the Category 4 storm despite what executives have said about efforts to strengthen its network.

a Category 2 storm, according to an analysis of regulatory filing and other company records by McCullough Research, a consulting firm based in Portland, Ore., that advises power companies and government agencies.

Entergy said that analysis was inaccurate but wouldn’t say how many of its transmission structures were built to withstand 150 mile-per-hour winds. The company has said that its towers met the safety standards in place at the time of installation but older standards often assumed wind speeds well below 150 m.p.h.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a professional group whose guidelines are widely followed by utilities and other industries, recommends that power companies that operate in areas vulnerable to hurricanes install equipment that can withstand major storms and return service quickly when systems fail. In coastal areas of Louisiana, for example, it says large transmission equipment should be designed to withstand winds of 150 m.p.h.

growing ferocity of hurricanes. The company says it had acted with alacrity. Its critics contend that it dragged its feet.

to restart a $210 million natural gas-fired plant the company opened in New Orleans last year that it said would provide power during periods of high demand, including after storms. But energy experts say it is a lot more concerning that so many of the company’s lines went down — and did so for the second year in a row.

Last year, Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 storm, destroyed and damaged hundreds of Entergy’s towers and poles in Southwestern Louisiana. In April, Entergy told the Louisiana Public Service Commission, which regulates its operations outside New Orleans, that the company had strengthened its equipment, including the installation of stronger distribution poles in coastal areas particularly vulnerable to high winds.

Michelle P. Bourg, who is responsible for transmission at Entergy’s Louisiana operations, told regulators that because it was too expensive to make the entire network resilient, Entergy pursued “targeted programs that cost effectively reduce the risks to reliability.”

In a statement, Entergy said its spending on transmission was working, noting that Ida destroyed or damaged 508 transmission structures, compared with 1,909 during Laura and 1,003 in Katrina. The company added that its annual investment in transmission in Louisiana and New Orleans has increased over the last eight years and totaled $926 million in 2020, when it spent extensively on repairs after Laura. The company spent $471 million on transmission in 2019.

“The facts of this storm support that we have made substantial progress in terms of resiliency since the storms that hit our system in the early 2000s — both generally and with respect to transmission in particular,” said Jerry Nappi, an Entergy spokesman.

The company declined to provide the age of damaged or destroyed transmission structures and an age range for the damaged distribution poles and equipment. Mr. Nappi acknowledged that distribution poles suffered widespread destruction and were not built to withstand winds of 130 to 150 m.p.h.

“Substantial additional investment will be required to mitigate hardship and avoid lengthy outages as increasingly powerful storms hit with increasing frequency,” he said in an email. “We are pursuing much-needed federal support for the additional hardening needed without compromising the affordability of electricity on which our customers and communities depend.”

The company’s plea for more help comes as President Biden is pushing to upgrade and expand the nation’s electricity system to address climate change as well as to harden equipment against disasters. Part of his plan includes spending tens of billions of dollars on transmission lines. Mr. Biden also wants to provide incentives for clean energy sources like solar and wind power and batteries — the kinds of improvements that community leaders in New Orleans had sought for years and that Entergy has often pushed back on.

Susan Guidry, a former member of the New Orleans City Council, said she opposed the construction of the new natural gas plant, which was located in a low-lying area near neighborhoods made up mostly of African Americans and Vietnamese Americans. Instead, she pushed for upgrades to the transmission and distribution system and more investment in solar power and batteries. The council ultimately approved Entergy’s plans for the plant over her objections.

“One of the things we argued about was that they should be upgrading transmission lines rather than building a peaking plant,” Ms. Guidry said.

In addition, she said, she called for the company to replace the wooden poles in neighborhoods with those built with stronger materials.

Robert McCullough, principal of McCullough Research, said it was hard to understand why Entergy had not upgraded towers and poles more quickly.

“Wood poles no longer have the expected lifetime in the face of climate change,” he said. “Given the repeated failures, it is going to be cost-effective to replace them with more durable options that can survive repeated Category 4 storms — including going to metal poles in many circumstances.”

Had Entergy invested more in its transmission and distribution lines and solar panels and battery systems, some green energy activists argued, the city and state would not have suffered as widespread and as long a power outage as it did after Ida.

“Entergy Louisiana needs to be held accountable for this,” said one of those activists, Logan Atkinson Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Clean Energy.

Entergy has argued that the natural gas plant was a much more affordable and reliable option for providing electricity during periods of high demand than solar panels and batteries.

Jennifer Granholm, Mr. Biden’s energy secretary, said that Ida highlighted the need for a big investment in electric grids. That might include putting more power lines serving homes and businesses under ground. Burying wires would protect them from winds, though it could make it harder to access the lines during floods.

“Clearly, as New Orleans builds back, it really does have to build back better in some areas,” Ms. Granholm said in an interview this month.

Mr. Nappi, the Entergy spokesman, said that distribution lines in some parts of New Orleans and elsewhere are already underground but that burying more of them would be expensive. “Distribution assets can be made to withstand extreme winds, through engineering or under grounding, but at significant cost and disruption to customers and to the community,” he said.

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California Advances Zoning Measure to Allow Duplexes

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“It’s like acting on climate change — you can’t count on everyone to step forward in unison in a way that gives everyone confidence that they are getting a benefit for their cost,” said Michael Andersen, a senior researcher at Sightline Institute, an urban think tank based in Seattle. “Zoning reform has a political cost at every level, but only has political benefit at the collective level.”

In California, where the median home price recently eclipsed $800,000 and more than 100,000 people sleep outside each night, a vision of a single-family home with a yard to enjoy the sun is encoded in residents’ dreams. The move to pass zoning reform has been a yearslong odyssey with the twists and turns of a screenplay.

It began in 2018, when Mr. Wiener introduced a bill, S.B. 827, that would have allowed eight-story buildings near major transit stops, regardless of local zoning rules. After the bill failed, Mr. Wiener introduced a similar measure called S.B. 50, which was voted down in early 2020. Moments after the S.B. 50 vote, Ms. Atkins gave a floor speech in which she said “the status quo cannot stand” and vowed “a housing production bill will succeed this year.”

The next month she convened a Senate housing group that designed a new package of bills that included a duplex bill similar to this year’s S.B. 9. The measure passed the Senate and made it to the Assembly floor on the last day of the legislative session. As the clock crept toward midnight, Buffy Wicks, a Democratic Assembly member from Oakland who was not allowed to vote by proxy, arrived masked and holding her newborn to give an impassioned speech in favor of the bill. The bill passed the Assembly but was unable to clear a Senate concurrence vote before the session ended.

Single-family-only zoning is something of a California creation: In 1916, Berkeley became what was probably the first U.S. city to restrict neighborhoods to one-family homes. A century later it’s become a bedrock value that homeowners across the nation euphemistically describe as maintaining “neighborhood character.”

According to an analysis of the bill by the Terner Center, S.B. 9 would enable the creation of an estimated 700,000 more units in the state’s existing neighborhoods (California permits roughly 100,000 new housing units each year). The bill’s crucial feature, Ms. Atkins said, is that by allowing homeowners to split their lots it would expand homeownership instead of just rental housing.

In a series of speeches before the vote, phrases like “gradual density” were countered with “planning chaos.” Some Assembly members said it would expand generational wealth. Others said it would destroy it.

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Biden Details $1.52 Trillion Spending Proposal to Fund Discretionary Priorities

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WASHINGTON — President Biden outlined a vast expansion of federal spending on Friday, calling for a 16 percent increase in domestic programs as he tries to harness the government’s power to reverse what officials called a decade of underinvestment in the nation’s most pressing issues.

The proposed $1.52 trillion in spending on discretionary programs would significantly bolster education, health research and fighting climate change. It comes on top of Mr. Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package and a separate plan to spend $2.3 trillion on the nation’s infrastructure.

Mr. Biden’s first spending proposal to Congress showcases his belief that expanding, not shrinking, the federal government is crucial to economic growth and prosperity. It would direct billions of dollars toward reducing inequities in housing and education, as well as making sure every government agency puts climate change at the front of its agenda.

It does not include tax proposals, economic projections or so-called mandatory programs like Social Security, which will all be included in a formal budget document the White House will release this spring. And it does not reflect the spending called for in Mr. Biden’s infrastructure plan or other efforts he has yet to roll out, which are aimed at workers and families.

Trump administration’s efforts to gut domestic programs.

But Mr. Biden’s plan, while incomplete as a budget, could provide a blueprint for Democrats who narrowly control the House and Senate and are anxious to reassert their spending priorities after four years of a Republican White House.

Democratic leaders in Congress hailed the plan on Friday and suggested they would incorporate it into government spending bills for the 2022 fiscal year. The plan “proposes long overdue and historic investments in jobs, worker training, schools, food security, infrastructure and housing,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee.

Shalanda D. Young, who is serving as Mr. Biden’s acting budget director, told congressional leaders that the discretionary spending process would be an “important opportunity to continue laying a stronger foundation for the future and reversing a legacy of chronic disinvestment in crucial priorities.”

The administration is focusing on education spending in particular, seeing that as a way to help children escape poverty. Mr. Biden asked Congress to bolster funding to high-poverty schools by $20 billion, which it describes as the largest year-over-year increase to the Title I program since its inception under President Lyndon B. Johnson. The program provides funding for schools that have high numbers of students from low-income families, most often by providing remedial programs and support staff.

The plan also seeks billions of dollars in increases to early-childhood education, to programs serving students with disabilities and to efforts to staff schools with nurses, counselors and mental health professionals — described as an attempt to help children recover from the pandemic, but also a longstanding priority for teachers’ unions.

Mr. Biden heralded the education funding in remarks to reporters at the White House. “The data shows that it puts a child from a household that is a lower-income household in a position if they start school — not day care — but school at 3 and 4 years old, there’s overwhelming evidence that they will compete all the way through high school and beyond,” he said.

There is no talk in the plans of tying federal dollars to accountability measures for teachers and schools, as they often were under President Barack Obama.

his vision of having every cabinet chief, whether they are military leaders, diplomats, fiscal regulators or federal housing planners, charged with incorporating climate change into their missions.

The proposal aims to embed climate programs into agencies that are not usually seen as at the forefront of tackling global warming, like the Agriculture and Labor Departments. That money would be in addition to clean energy spending in Mr. Biden’s proposed infrastructure legislation, which would pour about $500 billion on programs such as increasing electric vehicle production and building climate-resilient roads and bridges.

Strategic National Stockpile, the country’s emergency medical reserve, for supplies and efforts to restructure it that began last year. Nearly $7 billion would create an agency meant to research diseases like cancer and diabetes.

Reporting was contributed by Coral Davenport, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Lisa Friedman, Brad Plumer, Christopher Flavelle, Mark Walker, Dana Goldstein, Mark Walker, Noah Weiland, Margot Sanger-Katz, Lara Jakes, Noam Scheiber, Katie Benner and Emily Cochrane.

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