Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing, Revised Edition
240 pages
7 x 10
25 photos, 25 illustrations
Book Description
The lack of affordable housing and the climate crisis are two of the most pressing challenges facing cities today. Green affordable housing addresses both by providing housing stability, safety, and financial predictability while constructing and operating the buildings to reduce environmental and climate impacts.
Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing is the most comprehensive resource on how green building principles can be incorporated into affordable housing design, construction, and operation. In this fully revised edition, Walker Wells and Kimberly Vermeer capture the rapid evolution of green building practices and make a compelling case for integrating green building in affordable housing. The Blueprint offers guidance on innovative practices, green building certifications for affordable housing, and the latest financing strategies. The completely new case studies share detailed insights on how the many elements of a green building are incorporated into different housing types and locations. Case studies include a geographical range, from high-desert homeownership, to southeast supportive housing, and net-zero family apartments on the coasts. The new edition includes basic planning tools such as checklists to guide the planning process, and questions to encourage reflection about how the content applies in practice.
While Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing is especially useful to housing development project managers, the information and insights will be valuable to all participants in the affordable housing industry: developers, designers and engineers, funders, public agency staff, property and asset managers, housing advocates, and resident advocates.
Every affordable housing project can achieve the fundamentals of good green building design and practice. By sharing the authors’ years of expertise in guiding hundreds of organizations, Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing, Revised Edition gives project teams what they need to push for excellence.
Review Quotes
"The authors keep their eyes on the ball in this update of the 2007 edition… For those who have read enough starry-eyed cheerleading accounts of high-tech futuristic design, this book will be a tonic."
Planning Magazine
"While the target audience of the Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing is clearly the affordable housing "industry," it would still make a great addition to the syllabus for undergraduate or graduate level urban planning courses which focus on housing. It is easy to read and understand, and provides insight about how today’s professionals need to be prepared to respond to an environment in a constant state of change and flux."
Journal of Urban Affairs
"Wells and Vermeer have written the must-read for all those engaged in affordable housing.Their persuasive narrative highlights the myriad benefits an integrative approach brings to building new,and maintaining existing,affordable housing.Professionals will find vital insight into and inspiration for how to tackle the challenges of climate, health, social cohesion,and community resilience. The clear take-away: affordable housing that isn’t green and healthy isn’t affordable."
Gail D. A. Vittori, LEED Fellow and Co-director, Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems
"Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing is a terrific primer, providing great wisdom from the authors' experience as well as from other pioneers in the field. If we truly care about developing affordable housing to help build healthy, vibrant communities, then we'll follow its pragmatic advice."
Dennis Creech, Fund Advisor Sustainability, The Kendeda Fund
"Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing is an accessible, practical guide to the core elements of green building practice, including the all-important element of greening ongoing operations! Rich with case studies and supporting resources, it is a robust resource for affordable-housing practitioners to make healthy, high-performance homes the standard for all."
Rebecca Schaaf, Senior Vice President, Energy, Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future
"This practical and inspiring book is a must-read for anybody who shares the belief that green building's benefits should be affordable and accessible to everyone."
Stockton Williams, Executive Director, National Council of State Housing Agencies
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Foreword
Chapter 1: The Case for Greening Affordable Housing
Chapter 2: The Integrated Design Process
Chapter 3: Best Practices in Green Design
Chapter 4: Green Operations
Chapter 5: Costs and Financing
Chapter 6: Looking Forward: Four Trends Redefining Green Affordable Housing
Case Studies
1. Auburn Court, 3 Brookline Place, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2. Avery Hill Solar
3. The Villages at Cabrillo
4. El Camino Crossing
5. The Lace Mill
6. Mutual Housing at Spring Lake
7. Orchards at Orenco I
8. Phoenix House
9. Habitat for Humanity at Plaza Roosevelt
10. The Rose
11. North Santa Fe Apartments
12. Second Street Studios
13. Sendero Verde
14. Senior Residences at Decatur East
Appendix A: Glossary
Appendix B: Checklists
Index
Events
Day 2 of Current Events: A Virtual Retreat -- Co-Hosted by Ticco and Island Press
Wednesday, 30 September 2020 - 11:00am
Climate change continues to pose a serious threat to both urban and rural areas nationwide. How can our work and the programs we create help these places adapt and remain resilient in the face of related challenges?
Ticco retreats are a way to manifest a few of the core Ticco values - breaking barriers that divide city building practices and supporting the education of future leaders in our fields.
At this virtual retreat, sessions will dive into current research as well as tools and strategies to shape our practice in light of our changing environment. Topics covered will include items such as:
- Housing and Racial Justice
- Whiteness in Environmental Advocacy
- Mentor Power Hour: Starting a Climate-Based Business: From Nonprofit to For Profit, Everything you Need to Know
- Trump Administration Policies: Their Impact on the Battle Against Climate Change
- Greening the Trade: How we can Reduce the Output of Building Construction and Renovation
Speakers include:
- Lawrence Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor at University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute
- Christina Jackson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Sociology and Anthropology program at Stockton University in Galloway, NJ.
- Shane Phillips, author of The Affordable City: Strategies for Putting Housing Within Reach (and Keeping it There)
- Walker Wells, author of Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing
- Jeffrey Patterson, author of A New Coast: Strategies for Responding to Devastating Storms and Rising Seas
- Lindsey Jones, Owner of Blind Eye Restoration LLC
- Jennie Stephens, author of Diversifying Power
Book Club - USGBC Georgia Emerging Professionals
Tuesday, 22 September 2020 - 1:00pm
Join us for on September 22nd for an empowering discussion on sustainability within affordable housing. During this event we’ll explore the book Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing with authors Walker Wells and Kimberly Vermeer. We’ll also learn more about Phoenix House and Columbia Residential, which are two local projects that were featured as case studies. Abe Kruger who worked on both projects will lead a moderated Q&A and will share questions from the audience.
Smart Growth Network Webinar: Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing
Thursday, 19 November 2020 - 1:00pm
Every affordable housing project can achieve the fundamentals of good green building design and contribute to creating sustainable and resilient communities.
Join the Maryland Department of Planning and the Smart Growth Network at 1 p.m. Eastern, Thursday, November 19, as Kim Vermeer and Walker Wells share innovative practices, the latest affordable housing financing strategies, and examples of places and projects where these strategies have worked in practice.
Learn how green affordable housing provides housing stability, safety, and financial predictability while creating projects that reduce environmental and climate impacts. Participants of the live webinar are eligible for 1.5 AICP CM credits.
Addressing the Climate Crisis with Green Housing for All
Thursday, 6 May 2021 - 1:00pm
US cities are faced with compounding climate and housing crises. How can communities meet their housing needs while mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change?
By creating green housing affordable for all, cities will contribute to the health and well-being of residents, their communities, and the planet. Considering both systemic questions and action-oriented strategies, the speakers will discuss green building processes and principles that can be incorporated into housing design, construction, rehabilitation, and operation.
Dana Bourland, author of Gray to Green Communities: A Call to Action on the Housing and Climate Crises and Kimberly Vermeer, co-author with Walker Wells of Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing, will illustrate that delivering on the human right to housing and combatting the climate crisis go hand-in-hand. Each will discuss the intersection between equity, housing, and sustainability. After the authors present key ideas from their books, the moderator, Dawn Phillips, will lead a discussion between the authors and the audience.
Panel:
• Dana Bourland, Vice President for the Environment at the JPB Foundation
• Kim Vermeer, LEED AP Homes, President of Urban Habitat Initiatives Inc.
Moderated by Dawn Phillips (He/Him) – Executive Director of Right To The City Alliance
Resiliency L+L: From Homes to Infrastructure, Building Community Resilience
Wednesday, 8 March 2023 - 12:00pm
Presented by the USGBC Middle Atlantic New England region and the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) NYC Post
USGBC's Middle Atlantic and New England region has collaborated with the NYC Post of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) is back for the third year in a row to bring you a series of lunchtime webinars focused on resiliency.
The Resiliency Series kicks off in 2023 with four Lunch & Learns between February and May. Topics addressed will include indoor air quality, blue-green infrastructure, resilience and equity, and LEED/green buildings and communities. Each 90-minute session will feature a panel of expert speakers across diverse disciplines.
Join us on March 8, 2023 for From Homes to Infrastructure, Building Community Resilience
SESSION DESCRIPTION:
Join us for this discussion between expert panelists as they explore community resilience. By addressing topics including building codes, rating systems such as LEED for Communities, and sustainable holistic planning systems, they will help to illuminate how we build the resilient communities of tomorrow, today.
CEUS:
- This session has been submitted for 1.5 GBCI CEUs
- This session has been submitted for 1.5 AIA LUs
- This session will provide Professional Engineer CEUs/PDHs upon completion of a post-event survey.
- Attendees are welcome to self-report these sessions to their accrediting body for continuing education.
- Please note, CEUs are only offered for live webinar attendance. Each person wishing to earn CE hours must register individually.
Panelists include:
- MODERATOR: Erik C. Backus, P.E., LEED AP BD+C, ENV SP, FMP, professor of practice/director of construction engineering management at Clarkson University and lieutenant colonel (U.S. Army, retired)
- Vatsal Bhatt, PhD, Vice President, LEED for Communities, U.S. Green Building Council
- Kimberly Vermeer, President, Urban Habitat Initiatives Inc.
Case Studies & Excerpts
