It was announced on Tuesday that A2’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations has reached the 500 mark of housing units, meeting its Green Rental Housing Ordinance – this means that the units have been verified to meet safety, environmentally sustainability, emissions standards; creating a housing situation that is designed to save residents money in the process of lowering their carbon footprint.
Green Rental Housing Ordinance
“The ordinance passed in 2025, but the date that people actually needed to meet the ordinance was in 2026,” Joe Lange, the Senior Energy Analyst at A2’s Office of Sustainability and Innovations, said. “While the materials are due at the time of the rental housing inspection, we do give people a 60 day grace period to get everything in; so naturally, as people are just starting things out, most people skew towards the end of that grace period. During that time, we’re doing a lot of outreach with the landlords, so they know everything that’s happening, helping clarifying some misconceptions, and making sure that they’ve got everything on the right track to get there and get all of their stuff into compliance. Early on, that takes a lot more work than we’re hoping it will later on, and once people start getting familiar with it, it starts going a lot more smoothly.”
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The City itself sent out inspections for rental housing units – which comprise around 55% of Ann Arbor’s overall home count – to see what met the standards and what didn’t. If the apartment met the criteria, it was approved, and if it doesn’t, the relevant contractors are brought in on a sub-contracted basis, to make improvements.
“Tenants deserve well maintained, energy efficient homes. Ann Arbor’s Green Rental Housing Ordinance improves tenant comfort, health, and affordability,” Mayor Chris Taylor, who is running for reelection, told Current in an emailed statement. “I’m excited that we’ve reached this milestone and look forward to additional improvements for our residents.”
A lot of the time, the reason why these upgrades are necessary is that so much of Ann Arbor was built decades before modern insulation requirements (the average apartment was built in 1964 according to Lange). Applicants claim that around a fifth of the units were multifamily, and the rest were either single-family, or duplexes, triplexes, and the like.
Ann Arbor officials generally inspect a rental unit every two and a half to three years. The GRH inspection happens simultaneously to every rental inspection.
“At that time, the landlords need to prepare their materials and submit them as part of their application for the license, and we review it on our end. They are aware of the score they need to get in advance, so by the time they are submitting their information, they are submitting it where they should already be in compliance, pending review,” explains Lange. “This means that if there are improvements that need to be made, they are generally done in advance. As the landlords own the property and are the ones able to make the improvements to the building, they are the ones responsible. In the scenarios where they are not at the required score, and then make upgrades as part of the process, that is also the responsibility of the landlord as they own the property and can make those improvements.”
Getting housing units up to the GRHO can mean something as simple as adding more insulation, to replacing the roof or replacing a gas heater with a heat pump, etc. The City doesn’t have a complete record of how much the City has saved in carbon emissions since the programs started in January, but the eventual goal is to cut Ann Arbor’s carbon emissions by ten percent.
This is an essential part of Ann Arbor’s voter-backed mission to achieve a completely green city by 2030. You can be part of the effort by checking the Green Rental Housing Checklist, obtaining the Landlord Resource Book, or the Renter Education Packet, and rental regulation guide on the City’s website. They also have financial assistance opportunities for A2ZERO Rebates and Insulate Ann Arbor Rebates.
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
