1. (a) Multifamily building and Shelter weatherization is not considered a federal public benefit and the activity is exempt from the requirements of §6.406(e) and (f) of this subchapter (relating to Subrecipient Requirements for Establishing Priority for Eligible Households and Customer Eligibility Criteria).
2. (b) A Subrecipient may weatherize a building containing Rental Units if not less than 66% (50% for duplexes and four-unit buildings) of the Dwelling Units in the building are occupied by low income Households, or will become occupied by Low-income Households within 180 days under a Federal, State, or local government program for rehabilitating the building or making similar improvements to the building.
3. (c) In order to weatherize large multifamily buildings containing twenty-five or more Dwelling Units or those with shared central heating (e.g., boilers) and/or shared cooling plants (e.g., cooling towers that use water as the coolant) regardless of the number of Dwelling Units, Subrecipient shall submit in writing to the Department a request for approval along with evidence which clearly shows that an investment of funds would result in Significant Energy Savings because of upgrades to equipment, energy systems, common space, or the building shell. When necessary, the Department will seek approval from DOE. Approvals from the Department in writing must be received prior to the installation of any Weatherization measures in this type of structure.
4. (d) In order to weatherize Shelters, Subrecipient shall submit a written request for approval from the Department. Written approval from the Department must be received prior to the installation of any Weatherization measures. Income determination is not required to be done for residents of Shelters.
5. (e) If roof repair is to be considered as an eligible repair cost under the Weatherization process, the expenses must be shared equally by all eligible Dwelling Units weatherized under the same roof. If multiple storied buildings are weatherized, eligible ground floor units must be allocated a portion of the roof cost as well as the eligible top floor units. All Weatherization measures installed in multifamily units must meet the standards set in 10 CFR §440.18(d)(9) and (15), and Appendix A-Standards for Weatherization Materials.

6. (f) Subrecipient shall establish a multifamily master file for each multifamily project in addition to the applicable Dwelling Unit recordkeeping requirements found in the Contract. The multifamily master file must include, at a minimum, the forms listed in paragraphs (1) - (6) of this subsection: (Forms available on the Department's website.)

   1. (1) Multifamily Project Preparation Checklist;
   2. (2) Multifamily Project Completion Checklist;
   3. (3) Landlord Permission to Perform Assessment and Inspections for Rental Units;
   4. (4) Landlord Agreement;
   5. (5) Landlord Financial Participation Form; and
   6. (6) Multifamily Project Building Data Checklist.
7. (g) Subrecipient shall contact the Department for record keeping guidance if it wishes to weatherize a Shelter.
8. (h) For DOE WAP, if a public housing or assisted multi-family building has gone through the HUD Property Certification Procedure outlined in DOE Weatherization Program Notice 17-4 or is identified by the HUD and included on a list identified in Weatherization Program Notice 17-4 as having already gone through the HUD Property Certification Procedure, that building meets income eligibility without the need for further evaluation or verification by Subrecipient. A public housing or assisted housing building that does not appear on the list using HUD records may still qualify for the WAP. Income eligibility can be made on an individual basis by the Subrecipient based on information supplied by property owners and the Households in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.
9. (i) For any Dwelling Unit that is weatherized using funding provided under DOE WAP, all Weatherization measures installed must be entered into an approved Energy Audit. Weatherization measures installed shall begin with repair items, then continue with those measures having the greatest SIR and proceed in descending order to the measures with the smallest SIR or until the maximum allowable per Dwelling Unit expenditures are achieved, and finishing with Health and Safety measures.

Source Note:The provisions of this §6.414 adopted to be effective January 1, 2020, 44 TexReg 8247.