Greater Charlotte Apartment Association

for Independence Day. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday.

The EPA announced on June 18 that it will delay enforcement of parts of its lead-based paint Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule. Specifically, EPA extended the deadline for workers to sign up for a lead-safe training class to September 30. Training must be completed by December 31. EPA will also not take enforcement actions for violations of the rule’s firm certification requirement until October 1. NAA/NMHC had earlier asked EPA for an enforcement delay and an extension of the compliance assistance period, citing issues with the required training material among other things.

Importantly, EPA is not delaying enforcement actions for those found to be in non-compliance with the rule’s lead-safe work practice requirements. EPA says it “will continue to enforce the work practice requirements in the rule which protect children and reduce lead exposure.”

More information on the RRP rule, including an updated NAA/NMHC Guidance document, is available at the NAA web site: http://www.naahq.org/pages/welcome.aspx.

The City of Charlotte’s Neighborhood & Business Services Department would like to remind GCAA-member apartment owner/operators about the availability of grant money for retrofitting existing apartments.

While administered by the City of Charlotte, the grant was made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and is designed to reach out directly into our communities to benefit citizens and business owners, as well as promote responsible use of energy and resource management. 

Apartment Retrofit Grant
This grant is designed to improve the energy efficiency of existing apartment complexes and multi-family housing units within the City’s Business Corridor Revitalization Geography.  Eligible expenses include HVAC, energy efficient doors and windows, recycling programs, bicycle storage and much more.  The City will reimburse a percentage of the cost of eligible retrofits and allow direct billing from the contractor once work is complete.  The total funding for this grant is $600,000, and no individual grant award will exceed $200,000.  For details and application materials, please click here.

The Mixed Income Housing Tour which GCAA helped organize also received coverage in The Charlotte Observer. Here’s a link to Associate Editor Mary Newsom’s article of July 6th : http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/06/04/1478657/putting-new-face-on-projects-of.html

GCAA’s Mixed Income Housing Tour, which was organized in conjunction with the Mixed Income Housing Coalition and the League of Women Voters of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, was attended by a diverse group of developers, apartment owner/operators, affordable housing advocates, neighborhood leaders, and elected officials. Julie Rose, a reporter with local public radio station WFAE, rode along and offered the following comments in a spot which aired on June 4th: http://www.wfae.org/wfae/1_87_316.cfm?action=display&id=6180