Institutional and commercial facilities that rely on public funding have long struggled to find adequate resources to perform repairs, maintenance and upgrades. Now a new resource aims to help maintenance and engineering managers in these facilities find and tap into funding for upgrades.
The Bluegreen Alliance recently released a guide that explains federal funding opportunities for public buildings, Roadmap to Navigating Federal Funding for Public Buildings: Funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act for Municipal, University, School, and Hospital (MUSH) Buildings.
The guide provides an overview of programs within the U.S. Department of Treasury, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. The document includes information on eligibility, stacking tax credits and timelines for when funding is available, as well as case studies, hypothetical examples and information on disadvantaged communities.
The 117th Congress passed infrastructure legislation that can be used to retrofit buildings, including municipal, university, school, and hospital (MUSH) buildings. MUSH buildings serve as essential community assets and represent significant opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improve health outcomes, build climate resilience and support and create good, local jobs all while addressing equity and environmental justice.
The objective of the roadmap is to identify federal funding opportunities available through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and, in the case of schools, the American Rescue Plan, that can be used to upgrade these buildings.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor of the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
