Homeowners in Bell and Paramount Can Now Fund Renewable Energy and Water Saving Projects, Earthquake Resiliency, HVAC, Through PACE Financing

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Mar 14, 2023, 14:33 ET

Innovative Form of Financing Now Available in Bell and Paramount via Home Run Financing;
Approval Based on Home Equity, Payments made Through Property Taxes;
Model Shown to Create Sustainable Jobs in the Local Clean Energy Sector

LOS ANGELES, March 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Homeowners in the Cities of Bell and Paramount, both in Los Angeles County, can now access Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) home improvement financing through industry leader Home Run Financing (HRF), giving area residents new access to this innovative mechanism to fund renewable energy and energy and water efficiency upgrades, as well as earthquake resiliency. Bell and Paramount join more than 340 other cities and towns in California, including more than 30 in LA County, in making PACE Funding available to homeowners.

Approval for PACE financing is based on homeowners' home equity, rather than their credit score; requires no money down to start a project; and enables customers to make payments through their property taxes. This makes financing available for many more homeowners for projects including HVAC, solar, energy efficient roofing and insulation, and water efficiency, as well as fire-resistant roofing and seismic (earthquake) resiliency.

"It is important for the Bell community to have development opportunities such as the ones PACE provides," said Monica Arroyo, Mayor of the City of Bell. "Water is a scarce resource and energy bills keep going up. This program gives our homeowners better access to equitable home improvement financing, making it more affordable to meet their water and energy needs."

PACE Financing is available only through registered and trained contractors. State legislation and regulation by the state Department of Financing Protection and Innovation (DFPI) provides robust consumer protections for homeowners.

"PACE is an innovate financing mechanism that helps communities upgrade their housing stock to help them be more energy efficient, save water during the drought, and be more resilient in the face of wildfires and earthquakes, while creating good local jobs in the clean energy sector," said Robert Giles, CEO of Home Run Financing. "And because this financing model provides access to capital for underbanked, underfinanced communities, it is helping to expand access to money-saving home renovations to communities across California."

Despite the recent rains, drought remains a perennial and deepening problem in Southern California, so more and more homeowners are looking for additional ways to fund home upgrades to save water. California homeowners are also looking for ways to reduce utility bills in the face of rising energy costs, both by installing renewable energy systems like solar panels, and by installing more efficient (less leaky) windows and doors and roofs. PACE Financing is specifically designed to be used for such energy saving projects.

"We were very happy to approve this inventive financing opportunity for our residents, many of whom want to make energy-efficiency home improvements like strengthening their house roofs for solar panels and replacing older heating and cooling systems or water heaters," said Paramount Mayor Vilma Cuellar Stallings. "We want as many funding options as possible to make it easier for our residents to 'go green.' The PACE program will make that happen."

The PACE financing model has evolved significantly over the last decade. It now provides the strongest consumer protections of any home improvement financing product, with homeowner identity verification measures; recorded confirmation of terms calls conducted in English or Spanish to ensure the homeowner understands the financing; a further recorded call in English or Spanish to verify the project is complete before the contractor gets paid; third-party inspection of completed projects; rigorous contractor oversight and training; and additional protections for the elderly and low-income homeowners, among several other stringent consumer protection measures.

More than 15 million people in California – almost 40 percent of the population – are Hispanic/Latino, and Spanish is the primary language for many of these people. HRF is committed to working with Spanish-speaking homeowners and contractors. All materials are available in Spanish, from the website and homeowner contracts to the contractor portal and other contractor materials. Contractors have access to Spanish-language onboarding and training sessions, and there are bilingual staff in California to partner with contractors on an ongoing basis. HRF's customer service call center is staffed with more than 60 bilingual employees.

In the six years Home Run Financing (previously PACE Funding Group) has been operating in California, the company has provided almost $416 million in PACE financing for 14,000 home improvement projects across the state. These projects have set in place greenhouse gas reductions, over the lifetime of the upgrades, of 101,400 metric tons, equivalent to taking almost 22,000 cars off the road for a year or powering almost 13,000 homes for a year. The water efficiency upgrades have set in place the conservation of 56.4 million gallons of water, equivalent to filling 2,800 backyard pools or taking 2.8 million five-minute showers. HRF-financed projects have created more than 3,700 good-paying jobs across the state.

Learn more at www.homerunfinancing.com or in Spanish at https://es.homerunfinancing.com/.

CONTACT
Severn Williams, 510-336-9566
[email protected]

SOURCE Home Run Financing