Seattle Awards $4.6 Million in Building Decarbonization Grants to Nine Projects: Affordable Housing and Community Buildings Switch to Heat Pumps
Seattle, in King County, Washington: The City of Seattle's Office of Sustainability & Environment (OSE) announced on October 19 a total of $4.6 million in 2026 Building Decarbonization Grants to nine awardees. The grants will help affordable housing providers and owners of community-serving buildings complete engineering design or retrofit projects that reduce climate pollution and prepare buildings to meet Seattle's Building Emissions Performance Standard (BEPS). "Affordability and climate action go hand in hand in creating a Seattle where everyone can thrive," Mayor Katie Wilson said, adding that the upgrades bring healthier air, safer homes and lower energy bills.
The largest award, $2 million, went to Plymouth Housing Group for engineering design and retrofits at Plymouth Place in Belltown, a nonprofit apartment building providing permanent housing and support services to people experiencing homelessness, where a central heat pump plant will replace gas-fired hot water and heating systems. Brighton Communities received $540,000 to replace gas-fueled heating, cooking and hot water equipment across all 124 senior affordable apartments at Brighton Apartments in the Rainier Valley. Seattle Children's Research Institute received $500,000 to replace two gas-fired boilers at the Jack R. MacDonald Building downtown. InterImCDA received $450,000 to replace gas boilers at Nihonmachi Terrace, its 50-unit affordable housing building in the Chinatown-International District; co-executive director Leslie Morishita said one of the original gas boilers has permanently failed and the other is in critical condition, and that the grant fully funds a heat pump retrofit eliminating roughly 90 percent of the building's gas use.
The remaining awardees are the Downtown Emergency Service Center ($300,000, for heat pump retrofits at the Morrison Hotel's 190 apartments in Pioneer Square), University Congregational United Church of Christ ($292,000), the MLK FAME Community Center ($218,734), the Gables Cooperative Association ($160,000) and Saint Mark's Cathedral ($148,000). Each project replaces gas-fired heating, hot water or cooking equipment with electric heat pump systems.
OSE said this cycle drew 53 applications requesting nearly $26 million, $8 million more than requested in 2025. Funding comes from Seattle's JumpStart Payroll Expense Tax, and the Mayor's proposed budget includes funding to award grants again in 2027. Buildings account for 41% of Seattle's greenhouse gas emissions, the city's second-largest pollution source; building emissions fell 14% between 2022 and 2024. Under BEPS, most large buildings must reach net-zero emissions by 2050. This is Seattle's third year awarding the grants. (GSM, based on the City of Seattle Office of Sustainability & Environment announcement)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Seattle 市中心建筑群（Elliott Bay 方向望去）。Joe Mabel 摄，CC BY 4.0，维基共享资源。Photo: Downtown Seattle buildings seen from Elliott Bay. By Joe Mabel, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
