The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it was reviewing all aspects of the Biden-era program to ensure it was carried out consistent with the agency’s core mission.
Earlier this year, everything seemed set for a major renovation to make two Chicago apartment buildings for mostly lower-income elderly residents more energy efficient. An affordable-housing organization had secured a federal loan, a state loan and money from private investors.
But the project, which was to start in a few weeks and include the installation of solar panels, is on hold after the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development delayed funding a critical $5.4 million loan that it had previously approved.
“Things are in limbo,” said Aaron Gornstein, chief executive of the Preservation of Affordable Housing, a Boston-based firm behind the Chicago project that operates in more than a dozen states. “Everything has been held up.”
Housing advocates say the industry has received no explanation from HUD about the holdup, but they believe the program, known as the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, was probably targeted because it encouraged the use of green energy, something President Trump has often mocked.
A HUD spokeswoman, Kasey Lovett, said in a statement on Thursday that the program was being reviewed to ensure it was carried out consistent with the housing agency’s core mission to promote affordable housing.
“The previous administration’s extreme energy-efficiency crusade diverted valuable resources, including funding, from the department’s mission,” Ms. Lovett said. “The department is evaluating options to ensure rural, tribal and urban communities have the resources they need, which are not solar panels.”