SAVANNAH (WSAV) - The federal government is looking to make the Hostess City greener by investing $3.2 million in existing senior homes, located at Savannah Gardens. The goal is to improve these units with new materials to make them more energy efficient and resistant to climate change, according to Ethan Handelman, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs. "Our communities are only as strong as the weakest among us. So, if we're not taking care of our seniors, if we're not taking care of the folks who need help there, we're not that strong as a community," Handelman said. "Some of that will be resilience, helping withstand storms, for instance. Some of it will be energy efficiency, and all of it will contribute to quality of life." It's part of the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg talks train traffic, improvements coming to area Victoria White, one of the seniors who's lived at Savannah Gardens for 12 years, shared her appreciation for this investment and acknowledgment of her housing needs. "It is a very much a relief because this way, I don't have to worry about what am I going to do for next month? Am I going to make it the following week or whatever? Everything is just so affordable for us," she said. Savannah Gardens Senior Residences is a 40-unit property in Savannah, currently participating in HUD’s Section 202 project-based rental assistance program for low-income seniors. This award allowed Savannah Gardens to retrofit the property, focusing on reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs through energy efficiency measures and renewable energy generation, and making the property more resilient to climate hazards.  Additionally, the retrofit focused on the use of building materials with lower embodied carbon and improving the quality of life of residents through both green and healthy housing measures. Green and Resilient Retrofit Program progress to date: GRRP is the first HUD program to simultaneously invest in energy efficiency, renewable energy generation, climate resilience, and low-embodied-carbon materials in HUD-assisted multifamily housing. All of the investments under the GRRP will be made in affordable housing communities serving low-income families, directly benefiting HUD-assisted housing, in alignment with the Justice40 Initiative.  As of October 2024, GRRP funding has been awarded to 225 properties and more than 25,940 rental homes, to make them greener, healthier, and safer for low-income households, seniors, and persons with disabilities. The projects span the range from targeted upgrades to major net-zero renovation for properties in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.  GRRP funding is being used for insulation, energy-efficient windows and doors, heat-resistant roofs, energy-efficient heating and cooling, resiliency measures and other improvements.  More than 1,000properties have also signed up for HUD’s free energy and water benchmarking service, funded with more than $40 million from the President’s Inflation Reduction Act, so that HUD-assisted housing property owners can better understand the energy and water consumption at their properties in relation to other similar properties. This benchmarking information can in turn be used to assess energy efficiency and water conservation upgrades that can be funded under the GRRP.