Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.

Low-income individuals and families suffer disproportionally from environment-related health effects and are among the hardest hit when energy costs rise. Bringing environmentally sound and energy-efficient buildings to low-income communities provides health, economic, and environmental benefits to everyone.

But what does it take to make “green” building affordable?

To answer this short, but complex question, Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. (Enterprise) launched its Green Communities initiative in 2004.

Enterprise provides financing and expertise to create safe, fit, and affordable housing as a way to help people move up and out of poverty. The groundbreaking Green Communities Criteria was created as a way to set cost-effective standards for creating healthful and energy-efficient homes. “We put out the idea that affordable and green can be one and the same,” said Victoria Shire, deputy director at Enterprise. “It’s worked: states and municipalities across the country started adopting the Green Communities Criteria as a standard for affordable housing.”

Five years and nearly 16,000 green affordable homes later, Enterprise issued a bold call to action to the national housing industry: all affordable housing should be green by 2020.

To help meet that goal, Enterprise looks at ways to create successful green retrofit projects. From pre-construction decisions through post-construction monitoring and training, they have identified key areas that make green retrofits work.

“We are developing tools to increase the chances of success at every point in this process,” said Bomee Jung, program director of Green Communities at Enterprise.

First, Enterprise looks at new ways to put together retrofit financing. They chose New York City as one of the first markets to investigate how they could work within the housing finance structure to engage investors and banks. They also tap into city, state, and federal funding programs. And, they create financial products that capture savings from energy efficiencies and use those savings to finance projects.

For streamlined construction, Enterprise has developed a model in New York City where green and affordable building processes are fully integrated. “The entire construction team is made up of people who understand affordable housing holistically,” Jung said.

Then, to ensure that newly retrofitted buildings are capturing savings as designed, Enterprise continuously monitors their water and energy consumption. This data contributes to a pool of knowledge that will enable more innovating lending for future projects. Further, it allows building owners to quickly identify problems and to take action immediately.

On-site training is also key to achieving energy savings. Enterprise trains maintenance and operations staff and implements initiatives that help tenants understand their role in keeping their buildings energy-efficient.

Since 2004, Enterprise has invested $700 million to build and preserve almost 17,000 green affordable homes nationwide; in New York City alone, it has helped make more than 9,500 affordable homes greener.  This year, they are working with New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development to execute a plan that certifies new affordable housing construction under the Green Communities Criteria.

In New York City, buildings account for almost 80 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. Enterprise’s work of greening aging buildings is not only providing more healthful housing for low-income communities, it is also improving the lives of all city residents.