Kim Stevenson (left) and Madeline Priest (right).
Kim Stevenson
Director of Strategic Initiatives, Inclusive Prosperity Capital
Age: 55
Industry experience: 25 years
Madeline Priest
Senior Manager of Market Engagement, Inclusive Prosperity Capital
Age: 33
Industry experience: 9 years
The Connecticut Green Bank’s Smart-E Loan program has helped more than 5,000 homeowners make energy improvements since 2013. But an impediment to making improvements for some residents has been the presence of mold or asbestos. The Green Bank recently updated the Smart-E program, allowing homeowners to finance mold and asbestos removal. Owners of multifamily buildings also have financing options to remediate the problem through the Green Bank.
Kim Stevenson and Madeline Priest helped develop and administer these financing programs. The former Green Bank employees now work for Inclusive Prosperity Capital, a nonprofit spun off from the Green Bank that manages the lending programs.
Q: What is a Smart-E Loan?
Priest: The Smart-E Loan is an unsecured personal loan for over 40 different energy improvements for Connecticut homeowners. They can finance anything from insulation and windows to solar, heating equipment and air conditioning units. The program has a network of local credit unions, community banks, and a community development financial institution and over 400 approved contractors.
Q: Why expand the Smart-E Loan program to include mold and asbestos?
Priest: We’ve always allowed up to 25 percent of the total borrowed amount to be applied to other things that are related to the energy project. But what we found was that asbestos and mold in particular were much more expensive than the 25 percent amount would allow. They were barriers to doing any energy improvements. So, we worked with the network of our contractors and our partners at Energize Connecticut to get approval from our board to allow for asbestos and loan remediation to be a measure on their own. The project has to be paired with either insulation, an Energize Connecticut Home Energy Solutions assessment or a heating upgrade.
Q: What financing is available for multifamily properties?
Stevenson: The multifamily program has a separate loan program. In mid-2017, the Connecticut Green Bank received a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to establish the Energize Connecticut Health and Safety Revolving Loan Fund. This loan fund is targeted for multifamily properties, which are defined as properties with five residential units or more.
One of the things that we find with many multifamily properties in Connecticut, particularly some of the most depressed properties that are in need of capital improvement, is that there are health and safety issues in the building that impede implementation of the energy measures. For example, if there are water leaks, mold or asbestos, you can’t do insulation and seal the building because of air quality issues in the building. This loan fund helps owners address these issues.
Q: Why does Connecticut need these loan programs?
Stevenson: Over 70 percent of the residential units in Connecticut were built before 1979. Particularly with properties where low- and moderate-income residents reside, there’s a large number of health and safety issues that also impact the health of the residents. This has been a big motivating factor in establishing these programs. Connecticut also has some of the highest energy costs and highest energy burdens in the country. So low- and moderate-income residents are the hardest hit by these energy costs. If you can make upgrades to reduce utility costs, that helps folks pay their bills. But if you can’t do upgrades because there are health and safety issues that need to be taken care of first, you can’t get to the solutions.
Q: What has been the reaction to the multifamily program?
Stevenson: There’s a lot of need out there for these energy improvements. There’s been slow uptake of the program because there’s some complexity in addressing the health and safety issues and the requirement to integrate them with energy improvements. If code issues get identified, there’s a reticence from owners to even go down that route if something is flagged and then they have address it.
We’re identifying some deeper challenges. This loan fund right now is really being used for very distressed properties, where they absolutely have to address the health and safety issues. It’s an emergency loan program in some respects. We are working to build awareness in the market and make sure that everyone understands that these sources are available.
If folks think they have a project that could be funded, but they’re not sure, we are more than happy to spend time with property owners and help them figure out if this could be an appropriate source of funding for them. A lot of what we what do is to provide hands-on technical assistance.
Q: How did you get involved with the Connecticut Green Bank?
Priest: Originally, out of college I did environmental organizing, where I was working on a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy promoting the state’s Home Energy Solutions program across 14 different communities in Connecticut. All those grantees were brought together by Kerry O’Neill [now IPC CEO] and Bryan Garcia [now Connecticut Green Bank president and CEO]. When they both moved over to the Green Bank, I applied to work with them and to continue promoting those same programs.
Stevenson: I’ve been with the Green Bank since its inception in 2011. My training is in physics and urban planning. I’ve done a lot of work in innovation and product development around energy technology – clean energy technologies in particular – and housing and community developments. I have a great passion and interest in figuring out how to address climate issues. Both the Green Bank and IPC are focused on addressing climate change by supporting the scaled deployment of clean energy through these financing programs that we offer. It’s a perfect place for me given my interests and what I want to be doing.
Stevenson’s Three Favorite Travel Experiences
- Working with Haitian immigrants during a visit over Thanksgiving to the Dominican Republic
- Visiting Europe and England, her native country
- Doing international work in Asia, Russia and Central America
Priest’s Five Favorite Greater Hartford Restaurants
- Firebox Restaurant in Hartford
- Spicy Green Bean in Glastonbury
- Bear’s Smokehouse Barbecue in Hartford
- Flora in West Hartford
- Hartford Baking Co. in West Hartford
