This document is meant as an introductory brief for jurisdictions working on BPS to develop strategies, policies, and programs that address housing affordability and counteract displacement in that context. There is no one-size-fits all solution to addressing the myriad of issues related to housing affordability across jurisdictions, but this document seeks to describe the landscape of considerations and propose vetted paths forward.

an essential reference guide developed from the real-world experience of cities at the forefront of advanced building policy. It breaks down both the basics and the intricacies of BPS for existing buildings and how to engage community throughout the process, from establishing goals to implementing policy.

While performance elements tell employees what they have to do, the standards tell them how well they have to do it. The first article in this series defined and reviewed the characteristics of critical, non-critical, and additional performance elements. This article reviews the principles of writing good standards that can be used effectively to appraise employee performance of those elements.

Is your juristiction adopting a Performance Standard? Heres what to do.

This document from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) establishes a standard method for monitoring and reporting on the energy performance of commercial buildings.

Opportunities to Advance Demand This document is written to guide state and local governments that are developing a building performance standard in thinking through how it might encourage demand flexibility.

The costs of building energy improvement could be prohibitive for many affordable multifamily property owners and managers, but exempting them misses an opportunity to decarbonize buildings and improve energy equity for residents. This paper identifies potential solutions for improved energy performance of affordable housing.

Electrification is a key component of a comprehensive city decarbonization strategy. How can cities use building performance standards to advance electrification?

This document examines the missing link between energy codes and building performance standards and presents actions that cities can take to make progress towards a building lifecycle approach to regulation.

Preparing for Building Policy: This resource aims to enhance city personnel perspectives on how the real estate industry functions—including how different market actors work together throughout the various phases of a building’s lifecycle—and foster more meaningful conversations with stakeholders.

For cities exploring and implementing building performance standards, a high-performance building hub provides critical guidance, technical assistance, or access to available incentives to building owners, designers, contractors, and operators.