The City of Baltimore provides low interest loans to non-profits and for-profit small businesses located in the City of Baltimore. The City has partnered with two non-profit organizations- Healthly Neighborhoods and Reinvestment Fund- to administer the loans. The loans can be used to finance a wide range of energy measures including insulation, windows, HVAC systems, lighting, and distributed generation systems such as solar PV systems and combined heat and power systems.

Eligibility

The building for the energy efficiency project must be located within the New Markets Tax Credit eligible census tract or a Baltimore Main Streets District. The mapping tool (link) provides information if the building is within the eligible zone.  The buildings must be owned by non-profit organizations, or small for-profit businesses. Individual homeowners are not eligible for the loan program. 

Program description

The eligible borrows are divided into two Tiers. Tier 1 include non-profit organizations that provide at least 50% of their services to low-income* persons, and for-profit organizations that own or have a long term lease on their space. Tier 2 borrowers include real estate project developers that are located in eligible zone and provide new neighborhood amenities, remove blight, or provide 50% of their housing to low income residents. 

The loans are available for four different categories of energy upgrades- i) limited energy retrofit, ii) extensive whole building energy retrofits, iii) gut rehabilitation projects, and iv) new construction projects. These categories have different requirements in terms of energy saving goals and compliance with building/energy codes.  

Interested participants can visit the program website, review guidelines, and submit initial financing request form to get started with the loan application process. 

*low income is defined as family income 80% or less of the median family income for the Baltimore metropolitan area. In 2-14 that income level was $53,576 or less.