Nancy Pelosi’s niece-in-law is a relatively unknown climate policy advisor reportedly tasked with allocating millions of dollars for climate programs devised by the Biden administration, according to E&E News.
Alexis Pelosi is the senior climate advisor to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia Fudge and she is reportedly tasked with executing the department’s multi-million dollar climate action plan, according to E&E News. Pelosi assumed her current role in January after working for HUD’s Community Planning and Development office, her LinkedIn profile shows. (RELATED: Biden Admin Rolled Out A Massive Highway Emissions Rule On Thanksgiving Eve)
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 04: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge speaks during the Freedman’s Bank Forum in the Cash Room at the Treasury Department on October 04, 2022 in Washington, DC. According to the department, the forum is focused on “efforts to increase economic opportunity and growth for communities of color and address the persistent drivers of the racial wealth divide.” (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed by President Joe Biden in 2022, awarded $837.5 million in grant and subsidy funding and $4 billion of loan commitment authority to the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) for HUD to finance sustainable housing properties.
HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs received $1 billion of IRA funding to implement the GRRP and support efforts to benchmark energy and water use at multifamily HUD properties.
The IRA also includes $42 million of funding for HUD to launch an initiative targeted at collecting energy and water usage data from HUD properties.
The GRRP gave out more than $100 million of grants and loans in October to renovate 1,500 low income households and turn them into zero energy properties. A month prior, the Biden administration delivered $18 million of GRRP funding for owners of properties participating in HUD programs.
The Biden administration’s bipartisan infrastructure funding bill passed in 2021 enabled HUD to work with multiple agencies to allocate billions of funding for climate and housing programs. For example, HUD coordinated alongside the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allocate $15 billion of funding for lead pipe replacements in low-income family homes.
Alexis Pelosi told E&E she is proud to ensure “HUD be a part of the solution” to climate change. “I am honored to be in a position to advance this important work,” she added.
She did not answer questions from E&E related to her relationship with the former House speaker. The agency did not answer questions from E&E on how closely she works with Fudge.
Alexis Pelosi is married to attorney and real estate executive Laurence Pelosi, whose father, Ronald, is a brother of Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, E&E reported. She earned a master’s degree in environmental science from Johns Hopkins and a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Nancy Pelosi told E&E the American people and Fudge “are well-served by Alexis Pelosi’s leadership, knowledge and relentless commitment to climate resilience.”
Alexis Pelosi was part of an Aspen Institute Panel on “climate-resilient housing” held on Oct. 26. The discussion focused on climate and housing policy, specifically for properties in Miami-Dade County.
“This loss of housing highlights the need to invest in resilience, adaptation and sustainability because affordable housing is more than just the cost of rent,” Alexis Pelosi said, E&E first reported. “It is a home that can withstand the next storm or storms and one that weathers our uncertain climate future.”