For those wishing to understand the relationships between Energy Efficiency, up front and operating costs, and regulations/carrots from the government, here's a write-up by one of the Zero Carbon MA (ZCMA) team about how the new extended building code requirements helps:

The Specialized Code turns out to be a huge win for affordable housing developers and, perhaps more importantly, for the eventual residents of those affordable homes. I understand how developers who may be having difficulty building affordable housing under the Stretch Code may be concerned about moving to a higher standard. And I understand how affordable housing advocates may be cautious about taking this step. But it turns out that the economics of building affordable housing to Passive House standards are excellent. 

I'm a member of the Lexington Affordable Housing Trust. We have recently signed an agreement with Causeway Development to build 40 units of 100% affordable housing at an average of 60% Area Median Income (ranging from 30% to 80% AMI). Lexington is a Specialized Code community, so that means that this development (and any multi-family building over 12,000 sf in Lexington) will need to be built to Passive House standards. 

Causeway Development has built several affordable housing projects to Passive House standards. They have now made it their design standard for all their projects. I've toured this development at 1005 Broadway. It is an incredible building. https://causewaydevelopment.com/portfolio/1005-broadway/

The economics for the developer are excellent as Mass Save provides significant incentives for Passive House buildings. 

There is $5,000 for conducting a Passive House Feasibility study. $500 / unit for energy modeling, $750 / unit for pre-certification work, and finally $3,000 / unit for Passive House certification. 

The benefits for the residents are they get to live in a home with incredibly healthy indoor air quality, that is extremely quiet, and provides amazing thermal comfort, as well as unbeatable resilience. DOER studies show that a multi-family building built to Passive House standards have such excellent thermal resilience that they can go a week without electric power on the coldest week of the year, with indoor temperatures only dropping 6 or 7° F. No backup power needed. 

That excellent thermal performance also means that the developer can save a lot of upfront money on HVAC equipment as the heating loads for a Passive House building are roughly an order of magnitude lower than a standard building code building. 

Because those heating and cooling loads are so low, Causeway is planning to use a central heating and cooling system for all of the units - entirely powered by solar panels on the roof. That means the residents will have zero cost for heating or cooling their homes! 

And because that power is provided entirely by the sun, it is entirely insulated from the dramatic energy price spikes we've seen over the last few years. How'd you like to live in a home with no utility costs for the next 30 years? 

Multi-family developers who provide central heating and cooling for their residents, get an allowance from the state to cover those costs. Because those heating and cooling cost allowances are based on standard building code performance, that translates into positive cash flow for Passive House developers. 

And there is more - Massachusetts C-PACE program allows developers to finance 25% of the total cost of an all-electric Passive House certified building. The C-PACE program is an innovative financing method. PACE stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy. C-PACE loans provide off balance sheet financing. C-PACE loans are repaid through property taxes (like a betterment). The loan stays with the property when the building is sold. https://www.massdevelopment.com/assets/document/pace-massachusetts/PACE-Guidelines-2023.pdf

Bottom line - affordable housing developed under the Specialized code is a win-win-win. 

An economic win for the developer, an economic win for the residents, and perhaps most importantly, a win for health, comfort and resilience for the folks who get to live in such an awesome building. 

And there are plenty of affordable housing Passive House success stories here in Massachusetts.