People

Paul E. Williams

Reports

Smoothing the Housing Investment Cycle

There are many barriers to housing construction that need to be addressed on the path to a resilient and affordable housing market, from zoning to construction codes to subsidy programs. But the core economic trap, which leaves housing stuck in the depths of the business cycles, needs something else. A national construction financing fund could smooth the investment cycle, and help build millions of homes.

CPE Elective Pay Model

The CPE Elective Pay Model is a tool developed in-house to help understand the financial considerations public utilities and other public agencies might face when making an elective pay investment in clean energy assets. Included here is report detailing the model, its assumptions, and results, a simulator tool (below) comparing tradeoff scenarios for the primary clean energy tax credits (Investment Tax Credit and Production Tax Credit), and the financial model itself.

Cooling oil consumption to ease price pressures

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has created a situation where it may be difficult in the near term for domestic supply of petroleum products to match domestic demand. This has led to record high gasoline prices. The use of strategic petroleum reserves has proved insufficient to bring supply up to the level of demand. But the other side, the demand for petroleum products, has not been directly addressed. 

Posts

CPE Testimony to Senate Budget Committee

On September 25th, 2024, CPE’s Executive Director Paul Williams had the honor of testifying to the Senate Budget Committee about financing constraints for multifamily development, and opportunities to ease those constraints.  Download a PDF of the testimony. To: The Honorable Sheldon Whitehouse, Chairman Committee on Budget, United State Senate The Honorable Charles Grassley, Ranking Member […]

Climate Week NYC Event Schedule

CPE's Energy and Finance Team will be in New York City for Climate Week between September 22-27. Here is our schedule.

How the Federal Financing Bank supports multifamily construction

The White House today announced a meaningful change to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank (FFB) Risk-sharing program. The change will give users of the program, developers and housing finance agencies, significantly more certainty around interest rates throughout the years-long development process. This increased cost certainty will allow […]

Removing Barriers to On-Site Solar in Public Housing

Read the complete letter and memorandum. Center for Public Enterprise, in collaboration with Boston Housing Authority, New York City Housing Authority, New Bedford Housing Authority, MassNAHRO, Cambridge Housing Authority, and PowerOptions, recently sent a letter and memorandum to the Biden Administration detailing an issue that housing authorities face regarding on-site solar development. The recommendations accompanying […]

In Conversation with HUD

Last month, Paul Williams joined the leadership team that created the mixed-income public development program at the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County to speak at HUD’s Quarterly Update, hosted at HUD’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., organized by their Policy Development & Research division.

Technical Assistance Partnership and New Staff

We’re excited to announce that Center for Public Enterprise will be partnering with Economic Security Project to provide technical assistance on the use of public financing tools for clean energy investments.

Launching the Public Development Community of Practice

Center for Public Enterprise is launching a Public Development Community of Practice for PHAs, HFAs, and other local and state housing agencies to develop best practices for public development as a method of growing affordable multifamily housing production.