HERO LAUNCHES IN FLORIDA: A New Financing Option for Energy and Hurricane Resiliency Home Improvements

HERO, which stands for Home Energy Renovation Opportunity, is the nation's largest form of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing and its launch is expected to bring multiple benefits to Florida communities and to individual homeowners. With the availability of HERO financing, local contractors should see greater demand for home energy and resiliency projects, providing a boost to small businesses. That in turn will create new jobs in the construction and installation sector—jobs that can't be outsourced or automated. For homeowners, the products eligible for PACE financing can lower utility bills or insurance premiums, while making homes safer and more comfortable. HERO is a public-private partnership between participating Florida cities and counties, the Florida Development Finance Corporation (FDFC) and Renovate America.

"Floridians are looking for ways to save energy and protect their homes, but lack access to affordable financing to make the improvements they need to get there. PACE gives Florida homeowners a new option," said FDFC Executive Director Bill Spivey. "We hope PACE will also bring broader benefits to the community, creating jobs, leading to more storm-resilient neighborhoods, and growing a home improvement marketplace that homeowners can trust."

Today's launch covers cities and counties with over 1.3 million housing units. These communities include the cities of Orlando and Winter Park; Hillsborough County; 26 Broward County cities, including Hollywood, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, and Coral Springs; unincorporated areas of Broward County; the cities of Hialeah, North Miami Beach and Miami Springs in Miami-Dade County; and the cities of West Palm Beach, Lake Clarke Shores, Palm Beach Shores, and Golf in Palm Beach County; Leon County; Pasco County; Charlotte County; Fernandina Beach; and Satellite Beach. HERO will launch in more Florida cities and counties later this summer.

Robust Consumer Protections and Lower Interest Rates

HERO financing offers Florida homeowners fixed interest rates ranging from 3.49%-7.99%, the lowest of any PACE provider in Florida. These new, lower interest rates will help make PACE financing affordable for millions of homeowners across the state, especially in cases where their alternatives are high-interest options like credit cards. HERO also comes with the highest level of consumer protection in the PACE industry, including safeguards like live, recorded telephone calls to confirm financing terms with homeowners and a guarantee that contractors don't get paid until homeowners certify that a project is done to their satisfaction. HERO also uses a data-driven contractor quality rating system that tracks customer satisfaction and removes contractors that don't maintain good ratings.  

"With HERO, communities across Florida are giving homeowners access to the lowest interest rates and strongest protections in the PACE industry today," said Ari Matusiak, Executive Vice President of Market Development and External Affairs at Renovate America. "Floridians not only have a new way to go solar, protect their families from storms, or replace a broken HVAC in the middle of the summer, they are also getting a public-private partnership that is helping to improve the entire home improvement industry."

The availability of HERO, like all PACE financing options in Florida, is made possible by local governments voting to adopt a resolution or ordinance to allow HERO to operate in their communities.

HERO funds up to 100% of the home improvement, while the term of the financing is based on the useful life of the product, up to 25 years, spreading out the cost over time. The improvements eligible for PACE financing can also improve the value of a home. A recent study showed homes with PACE assessments recovered 100% or more of the investment at the time of resale.

Homeowners interested in applying for HERO financing or who wish to learn more should visit https://www.renovateamerica.com. Contractors interested in offering HERO financing can register at https://register.renovateamerica.com/.

About Renovate America
Renovate America offers a tech-enabled financing platform for home improvement and commercial retrofits that empowers communities to modernize and make their housing stock more efficient, while giving small businesses the tools they need to grow. In addition to financing home improvements through an unsecured lending product, Benji, Renovate America offers communities HERO financing. HERO is the leading residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program in the U.S. and has been used by over 100,000 homes to make energy and efficiency improvements. It is estimated that HERO is on track to save billions of dollars in energy and water bills, and has created over 20,000 local trade jobs that cannot be offshored or automated. Renovate America has built the world's largest green bond platform, with a volume of originations that enables securitization of HERO PACE bonds multiple times a year, attracting international investment to meet U.S. clean-energy objectives.

About the Florida Development Finance Corporation
The FDFC is a special development finance authority created by State Legislation under Chapter 288, Part X of the Florida Statues and formed as a 501(c)(4) not-for-profit corporation. Although not a State Agency, the FDFC is a state-wide conduit issuer that provides access to capital for project finance. Over the past 20 years, the FDFC has assisted over 90 Florida-based businesses to finance over $1.2 billion in tax-exempt & taxable bonds for qualified projects and borrowers.

Contact: Matt Bevens
(619) 756-1626
[email protected]

SOURCE Renovate America

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http://www.renovateamerica.com