Sponsors (7)
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Creates a HUD-administered grant program to fund projects that reduce excess urban heat and address its unequal impacts, prioritizing low-income and heat-burdened neighborhoods. The program funds tree planting and maintenance, cool surfaces and roofs, shade structures, cooling centers, urban forestry planning, outreach and training, and other locally appropriate heat-mitigation activities; it authorizes $30 million per year for fiscal years 2026–2033 and requires HUD to stand up the program within one year and issue application guidance within 180 days.
The bill directs targeted federal grants and technical support to reduce urban heat and its health and energy burdens in disadvantaged neighborhoods—producing long‑term public health, environmental, and energy savings—but its modest funding, eligibility rules, administrative requirements, and upfront costs mean many communities may remain underserved and face short‑term burdens and tradeoffs.
Low-income residents of hot, low-canopy urban neighborhoods will receive funding and projects (trees, cool roofs, cooling centers) that lower local temperatures and reduce heat-related illness and discomfort.
Households and businesses in targeted neighborhoods are likely to pay less for summer cooling as green infrastructure and shading reduce energy consumption and cooling costs.
States, local governments, tribes, and nonprofits can access grants, high federal cost-share (up to 80–100% in some cases), multi-year stable funding, and technical assistance to plan and implement heat-mitigation projects, lowering barriers to action.
Program funding is modest (roughly $30M/year) so many needy communities likely will not receive grants or will be underfunded.
Implementation requires federal and local spending that could raise taxpayer costs or force tradeoffs with other local priorities and services.
Eligibility, targeting, and priority rules (ACS 2019–2023 poverty thresholds, 75% allocation to covered tracts, geographic targeting) risk excluding some vulnerable neighborhoods and reduce flexibility for local planners.
Introduced March 27, 2025 by Ruben Gallego · Last progress March 27, 2025