Demonstrating Viability

Green building? On an affordable housing budget?

GreenHOME is committed to making green housing commonplace for families with limited incomes and is making a compelling case to the development community that green can happen within the most constrained budget. Now, as the Washington, DC and Montgomery County Green Building laws come into effect, GreenHOME continues to show that affordable green is becoming a reality in the DC metro area.

We are hard at work on a case study that will explore decision-making in the design and construction of a green, multi-family affordable housing development here in Washington, DC. The Wheeler Terrace project will show that green building does not have to cost more, and that green can work for affordable housing and yield significant health outcomes.

The Wheeler Terrace case study will take a behind-the-scenes look at the decision making process and economics involved in the design and construction of a green, multi-family affordable housing project. In particular, it will examine the health-oriented components of green building. The National Center for Healthy Housing is using this demonstration project to study how health requirements in green building criteria affect residents' reported health outcomes. We will use this case study to correct market perceptions that green approaches cost more or are otherwise inappropriate for affordable housing and to demonstrate the positive impact of green and healthy housing on resident health.

Does someone like me know green? Build green?

GreenHOME trained a group of building professionals to present our "Introduction to Affordable Green" workshops. Our "train the trainer" session featured project managers from each of five case studies, who shared lessons learned from their on-the-ground experience and answered questions from the trainee presenters. The ensuing workshops themselves became much more real, as each presenter could incorporate the details of successful affordable green projects and anticipate questions from diverse audiences.

In fall of 2006, the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development (CNHED), GreenHOME, and Enterprise Community Partners produced a real-time integrated design charrette for an actual affordable housing project as a teaching tool for area developers. An integrated design expert (Iris Amdur of GreenSHAPE) facilitated a full-day educational charrette for this Washington, DC area project. The full project team, all the decision makers, worked with the facilitator in the center of the room to identify the opportunities and issues affecting the project and set aggressive but achievable sustainability goals within the given site, budget and operational constraints. Workshop participants formed an observers' outer circle. They learned from the charrette experience and had access to an additional facilitator to answer their questions.

Our more recent training, "Affordable Green Housing - Lessons Learned from Those Who've Done It," taught local nonprofit developers how to build affordable green housing in the District of Columbia by giving them both an overview of Enterprise's Green Communities criteria and three presentations from team members (project managers, an architect, and a general contractor) of one rehab and two new construction projects in the region.

How can green building work for government?

GreenHOME is helping government officials see how green affordable housing can lower operating costs while creating healthy, comfortable homes for low-income families. By working with the many DC department and agency directors who oversee and regulate affordable housing, we are helping them identify opportunities for better design and construction review. We are connecting them with experts and resources from other cities that have a track record of building green. GreenHOME will also work with its national partners to provide a series of trainings specifically for staff and administrators. These workshops will, in essence, be a "green building 101" and will cover "Practical and Cost Effective vs. Exotic and Expensive" for both new construction and rehab. The workshop will cover how project reviewers can use a "green screen" approach - helping staff know what questions to ask at each stage of the process, as well as how to avoid pitfalls like "greenwashing." The workshop will also cover opportunities for financing green projects.