Hans Riemer is a senior consultant to the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO), where he leads LPO’s work with state and local governments. LPO is charged with deploying billions in financing for the clean energy transition.
From 2010 to 2022, Hans Riemer served as an At-large Member of the Montgomery County Council in Maryland, representing more than one million residents. The Montgomery County Council has significant legislative powers and final authority over a $6 billion budget, providing services and policy for urban, suburban and rural communities.
A changemaker, Hans came to Washington in 1994 from his native Oakland, California and quickly became a national leader in the fight to save Social Security. Hans founded a nonprofit youth advocacy organization, The 2030 Center, that played a crucial role in the national coalition to save Social Security. He staffed a national campaign that pushed the Democrats to rediscover their New Deal roots and find their voice as champions of the middle class when Social Security was under attack from Republicans.
Hans then joined Rock the Vote, where he guided political programs as the group registered nearly a million young voters during the 2004 election.
In 2007, Hans joined the Obama campaign as the National Youth Vote Director. His job was to work with students and youth organizers to mobilize a new generation and elect Barack Obama as president. In a cover story, Time Magazine declared it the “Year of the Youth Vote,” as young voters influenced the election outcome significantly.
After the Obama campaign, Hans became a senior advisor at AARP, where he boosted their community service and retirement security campaigns.
Hans ran for the Montgomery County Council and was elected in 2010, beating three incumbents in the At-large field. Championing a motto of “Say YES to Progress,” Hans authored landmark legislation to promote housing affordability and equitable development. Some of the highlights of his work include:
- Establishing the Montgomery County “Housing Production Fund,” an innovative financing model that HUD and public housing agencies are hailing as a national best practice;
- Broadly legalizing Accessory Dwelling Units as well as enacting tax incentives for high rises on transit station properties and for affordable housing;
- Legalizing innovative services such as 5G wireless and Airbnb;
- Reforming antiquated liquor laws to foster a thriving local brewery and winery industry
- Enacting emergency COVID protocols;
- Modernizing transportation and development policies to promote walking, biking and public transit;
- Taking climate action with building energy efficiency reforms (including BEPS and an all-electric building code) and smart growth;
- Establishing new nonprofit youth skills programs and higher education workforce development programs;
- Making Head Start a full-day program and adding slots for full day pre-k and after school programs serving thousands of low income children.
Hans and his wife Angela have two teenagers. They live in Takoma Park.