American Homes 4 Rent Responds to Criticism About Environmental Record
The REIT held a discussion about its environmental initiatives with Land and Buildings, which was ultimately fruitless.
American Homes 4 Rent has released a letter to its shareholders in response to a letter activist shareholder Jonathan Litt of Land and Buildings wrote earlier this week expressing its concerns about American Homes’ environmental record.
In Litt’s letter, Land & Buildings targeted American Homes 4 Rent about its “concerns around the company’s failure to adopt any significant environmentally friendly home policies and its intention to vote against the re-election of all members of the Board’s Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee at the upcoming 2022 Annual Meeting.”
Litt wrote, “Surprisingly, a review of AMH’s publicly available ESG policies is silent on the topic of using solar roofs until last week’s announcement of a small pilot program with Elevation for solar energy primarily related to the company’s amenity centers.
“Our last discussion with CEO David Singelyn and CFO Chris Lau made clear to us that the company is not taking the necessary steps to lead the industry in environmental home standards.”
In response, American Homes 4 Rent, a provider of single-family homes for rent, issued its letter regarding its commitment to industry-leading Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices.
It addressed the company’s efforts to act responsibly and its recent partnership with a solar energy company and that it employs a third-party utilities administrator to monitor resident electricity and water usage.
The letter was signed by Douglas N. Benham, Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the American Homes 4 Rent Board of Trustees; and the company’s CEO and trustee, David P. Singelyn.
Excerpts from the Letter
“At American Homes 4 Rent, we integrate sustainability into every aspect of our business, including our development program, and continually evaluate new opportunities to create more energy efficient and environmentally friendly communities and homes.”
It noted it was executing a multifaceted ESG strategy “that is deliberate and aligned with our business goals.”
Among these efforts, the REIT is building new homes along environmental sustainability practices with solar power playing a key role in our sustainability efforts.
Perhaps taking issue with Litt’s description of its new relationship with Elevation, American Homes 4 Rent explained that the partnership started out with integration of solar energy into its community amenity centers, but will continue with the deployment of energy solutions into participating homes.
The REIT also noted that it had a call on March 29, 2022, with Craig Melcher of Land & Buildings, held at Land & Buildings’ request.
“Upon reading Land & Buildings’ press release, we were disappointed to discover that Land & Buildings’ principals had either misunderstood or mischaracterized our discussion,” it concluded.