GLOBAL GREEN USA.
CA – California, Santa Monica
Global Green USA, is seeking a Green Affordable Housing Assistant to support the Green Urbanism Program. Duties: Conduct research, analysis for program publications and proposal materials. Assistant will provide technical…
Salary: $15/hr. Date posted: 09/07/2012
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National Housing Trust/Washington, DC
Sustainable Development Manager
At the National Housing Trust (“NHTâ€), we safeguard affordable apartments through real estate development, lending and public policy advocacy. By revitalizing existing apartments, we improve the quality of life for the families and elderly who live there. We believe preserving and improving existing affordable homes is the essential first step in solving our nation’s housing dilemma. NHT incorporates sustainable and environmentally appropriate design, repairs, and improvements into the affordable housing it preserves, either through direct development and ownership or through co-development partnerships and/or technical assistance. NHT also advocates for funding to make affordable housing more energy efficient and healthy for the families and elderly who live there.
The Sustainable Development Manager (“SDMâ€) participates in the Trust’s real estate development operations conducted by a separate, affiliated nonprofit organization, National Housing Trust – Enterprise Preservation Corporation (“NHT/Enterpriseâ€). The SDM is responsible for working with other staff and outside professionals to identify “best practices†of sustainable renovations and retrofits and to secure funding for incorporating such practices into the design of new NHT/Enterprise developments and into the retrofitting of existing projects in NHT/Enterprise’s portfolio.
The SDM also works with NHT Policy staff, educating policy makers and affordable housing stakeholders about the benefits of sustainable development (“Green Preservationâ€), and how policymakers and funders can provide assistance with the funding and/or delivery of sustainable improvements. The SDM is also responsible for working with utility providers and their consultants to develop funding programs and incentives to deliver energy efficient retrofits during renovations of, or improvements to, affordable housing.
This technically proficient team player is a well-organized project manager, possessing the ability to coordinate multiple projects and manage multiple stakeholders to achieve desired results. Candidates will have excellent oral and written communication skills and enjoy working with project design teams across the U.S. Some travel is expected.
The Sustainable Development Manager is an employee of the National Housing Trust.
Development Responsibilities
• Under the direction of NHT/Enterprise developers and asset managers, secure funding for the energy retrofitting of the NHT/Enterprise portfolio. Such funding can include but not be limited to: philanthropic, CDFI loan, government and/or utility public benefit funds.
• Work with development and asset management staff, and design professionals to create conceptual renovation plans for new housing preservation being pursued by NHT/Enterprise to achieve green certification.
• Research and study federal, state, and local laws, and public and private philanthropic programs, to identify potential sources of funding for energy-efficient retrofits and improvements for both housing preservation projects being evaluated by NHT/Enterprise for acquisition and the existing NHT/Enterprise portfolio.
• Train development staff on the use of such funds, their terms, and considerations for inclusion in financial underwriting and feasibility analysis.
• Provide assistance to Asset Management staff regarding the implementation of energy saving measures at properties within the NHT/Enterprise portfolio.
• Review, guide, and present technical analysis (energy models, water conservation audits, power-purchase agreements, etc.) created by others to internal housing development team.
• Participate in integrated green building design process and charrettes.
• Negotiate long-term utility contracts for properties.
• Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with peer organizations, real estate companies, and utilities.
• From time to time, make presentations and/or sit on panels at workshops and conferences.
Public Policy Responsibilities:
• Advise internal policy team on the design and implementation of energy-efficiency policies promoting Green Preservation.
• Participate in coalitions and partnerships with other affordable housing developers formed to increase energy efficiency to existing, affordable multifamily housing
• Occasionally travel to participate in conferences, meetings and other events.
• Use industry experience to guide internal staff to produce deliverables that create leverage for change in the affordable housing industry.
• Based on information secured from real estate operations, manage database of energy and water usage using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and Strength Matters format to determine energy usage trends.
• Based on information secured from real estate operations, provide utility data from NHT/Enterprise property portfolio to membership organizations and funders.
• From time to time, sit on panels at workshops and conferences based on Sustainable Development and utility expertise.
Qualifications:
• Understanding of construction/renovation process including traditional relationships among Owner, Architect, Engineers and Contractors.
• Understanding of environmental issues impacting renovation design and scope.
• Understanding of construction terms and building systems.
• Basic ability to review and understand architectural and engineering drawings, environmental site assessments, and capital needs assessments.
• Strong knowledge of multifamily real estate industry, preferably affordable housing.
• Strong knowledge of utility industry and how utility public benefit programs work.
• Expert user of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Acrobat.
• LEED Accredited Professional.
• Conceptual understanding of real estate finance a plus.
• Previous experience working with advocacy a plus.
Qualities:
• Creative, entrepreneurial approach
• Ability to grasp development and policy initiatives on both a macro and micro level
• Ability to clearly present complex concepts orally and in writing to those less informed about the intricacies and technicalities of sustainability
• Ability to work well both on an individual basis and in a team setting
• Proactive about personal leadership development and growth
• Passionate about transforming communities for the better
• Sense of humor essential
Compensation:
Salary is commensurate with experience. Benefits include 403(b) retirement contribution and excellent health, dental, and vision insurance.
NHT is an equal opportunity employer.
View full post on GreenBiz Jobs
National Housing Trust/Washington, DC
Sustainable Development Manager
At the National Housing Trust (“NHTâ€), we safeguard affordable apartments through real estate development, lending and public policy advocacy. By revitalizing existing apartments, we improve the quality of life for the families and elderly who live there. We believe preserving and improving existing affordable homes is the essential first step in solving our nation’s housing dilemma. NHT incorporates sustainable and environmentally appropriate design, repairs, and improvements into the affordable housing it preserves, either through direct development and ownership or through co-development partnerships and/or technical assistance. NHT also advocates for funding to make affordable housing more energy efficient and healthy for the families and elderly who live there.
The Sustainable Development Manager (“SDMâ€) participates in the Trust’s real estate development operations conducted by a separate, affiliated nonprofit organization, National Housing Trust – Enterprise Preservation Corporation (“NHT/Enterpriseâ€). The SDM is responsible for working with other staff and outside professionals to identify “best practices†of sustainable renovations and retrofits and to secure funding for incorporating such practices into the design of new NHT/Enterprise developments and into the retrofitting of existing projects in NHT/Enterprise’s portfolio.
The SDM also works with NHT Policy staff, educating policy makers and affordable housing stakeholders about the benefits of sustainable development (“Green Preservationâ€), and how policymakers and funders can provide assistance with the funding and/or delivery of sustainable improvements. The SDM is also responsible for working with utility providers and their consultants to develop funding programs and incentives to deliver energy efficient retrofits during renovations of, or improvements to, affordable housing.
This technically proficient team player is a well-organized project manager, possessing the ability to coordinate multiple projects and manage multiple stakeholders to achieve desired results. Candidates will have excellent oral and written communication skills and enjoy working with project design teams across the U.S. Some travel is expected.
The Sustainable Development Manager is an employee of the National Housing Trust.
Development Responsibilities
• Under the direction of NHT/Enterprise developers and asset managers, secure funding for the energy retrofitting of the NHT/Enterprise portfolio. Such funding can include but not be limited to: philanthropic, CDFI loan, government and/or utility public benefit funds.
• Work with development and asset management staff, and design professionals to create conceptual renovation plans for new housing preservation being pursued by NHT/Enterprise to achieve green certification.
• Research and study federal, state, and local laws, and public and private philanthropic programs, to identify potential sources of funding for energy-efficient retrofits and improvements for both housing preservation projects being evaluated by NHT/Enterprise for acquisition and the existing NHT/Enterprise portfolio.
• Train development staff on the use of such funds, their terms, and considerations for inclusion in financial underwriting and feasibility analysis.
• Provide assistance to Asset Management staff regarding the implementation of energy saving measures at properties within the NHT/Enterprise portfolio.
• Review, guide, and present technical analysis (energy models, water conservation audits, power-purchase agreements, etc.) created by others to internal housing development team.
• Participate in integrated green building design process and charrettes.
• Negotiate long-term utility contracts for properties.
• Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with peer organizations, real estate companies, and utilities.
• From time to time, make presentations and/or sit on panels at workshops and conferences.
Public Policy Responsibilities:
• Advise internal policy team on the design and implementation of energy-efficiency policies promoting Green Preservation.
• Participate in coalitions and partnerships with other affordable housing developers formed to increase energy efficiency to existing, affordable multifamily housing
• Occasionally travel to participate in conferences, meetings and other events.
• Use industry experience to guide internal staff to produce deliverables that create leverage for change in the affordable housing industry.
• Based on information secured from real estate operations, manage database of energy and water usage using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and Strength Matters format to determine energy usage trends.
• Based on information secured from real estate operations, provide utility data from NHT/Enterprise property portfolio to membership organizations and funders.
• From time to time, sit on panels at workshops and conferences based on Sustainable Development and utility expertise.
Qualifications:
• Understanding of construction/renovation process including traditional relationships among Owner, Architect, Engineers and Contractors.
• Understanding of environmental issues impacting renovation design and scope.
• Understanding of construction terms and building systems.
• Basic ability to review and understand architectural and engineering drawings, environmental site assessments, and capital needs assessments.
• Strong knowledge of multifamily real estate industry, preferably affordable housing.
• Strong knowledge of utility industry and how utility public benefit programs work.
• Expert user of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Acrobat.
• LEED Accredited Professional.
• Conceptual understanding of real estate finance a plus.
• Previous experience working with advocacy a plus.
Qualities:
• Creative, entrepreneurial approach
• Ability to grasp development and policy initiatives on both a macro and micro level
• Ability to clearly present complex concepts orally and in writing to those less informed about the intricacies and technicalities of sustainability
• Ability to work well both on an individual basis and in a team setting
• Proactive about personal leadership development and growth
• Passionate about transforming communities for the better
• Sense of humor essential
Compensation:
Salary is commensurate with experience. Benefits include 403(b) retirement contribution and excellent health, dental, and vision insurance.
NHT is an equal opportunity employer.
View full post on GreenBiz Jobs
Image by Dzm1try / Shutterstock.
I just finished 11 months of barely paid work as an AmeriCorps member with the Oakland, Calif.-affiliate of Rebuilding Together — a nonprofit service organization that, when I describe it to people, invariably elicits the reply: “Oh, it’s just like Habitat for Humanity.”
Well, yes — and not so much …
See, this wasn’t my first stint working on low-income housing. Six years ago, I worked as an AmeriCorps member with Habitat for Humanity. My days were devoted to everything from setting rebar and pouring concrete to nailing shingles on rooftops. We built houses from the ground up, leading teams in sunshine and in fog to turn bare patches of land into mini-developments for low-income homeowners.
Rebuilding Together is a little different. Founded in 1973 as Christmas in April and renamed a decade ago to reflect its year-round, secular programming, it renovates and repairs existing structures for low-income homeowners. My work with Rebuilding Together was harder to spot than Habitat’s, and took less time to execute, but in many ways I suspect I made a more lasting impact, while taking less of a toll on the planet — and therein lies an important lesson for everyone who works on housing for those in need.
I had a great time working with Habitat: I worked with tremendous people and learned a ton, much of which proved useful with Rebuilding Together. But the difference between building a new house and rehabbing an occupied one is like the difference between opening a cadaver and working on a real-live patient — whether you’re poking at a person or an old house, there’s a need for diagnostic skill and interpersonal ability that the opposite condition doesn’t require.
Beyond the requisite skill level lie the environmental and social impacts of each strategy. New building is more resource-intensive than renovation. And while, in the Bay Area, Habitat focuses on infill rather than sprawl, that’s not the case elsewhere. (In fact, Habitat affiliates in Colorado and Arizona have actively fought anti-sprawl ballot measures, arguing that land-use restrictions raise housing costs.)
In addition to a smaller ecological footprint, Rebuilding Together’s efforts have the added benefit of neighborhood stabilization — and I’m not using that term as a euphemism for gentrification. In fact, Rebuilding Together serves as a bulwark against real-estate speculators and home-flippers.
One of the homes I worked on this April was a beautiful West Oakland Victorian, built in the 1870s. The neighborhood around it has been gentrifying rapidly in the past few years — several of the neighbors we met were right out of an Anthropologie catalog — but our particular homeowner, a sweet and elderly black woman, had lived there since the 1950s. The Rebuilding Together team stripped lead paint (and repainted), installed new flooring, repaired old wiring, and rebuilt a dangerous and crumbling back deck. The homeowner, her children, and her grandchildren can continue to live safely in their house for years to come.
If Rebuilding Together does such great work, though, why have most people never heard of it? Well, it turns out that Habitat is kind of an insane juggernaut in the world of nonprofit housing services, with money and resources that others can only dream of. (It also has Jimmy Carter.) Plus, it’s easier to work on a house where nobody lives yet — and “We put families in new homes!” has a certain marketing sex appeal that “We prevent houses from falling down on old ladies!” just can’t match.
But as you probably know, there are a lot of empty houses out there these days, and it’s become harder for Habitat justify new construction. Recently, Habitat has quietly shifted its strategy to become more home-flipper than home-builder. Although the group still does some new construction, there’s been a decided movement toward renovating and reselling foreclosed properties to low-income buyers.
Habitat has also just initiated a new program called A Brush With Kindness that imitates the Rebuilding Together model, but the standards vary wildly from affiliate to affiliate. In Miami, for example, the only services offered are landscaping and exterior painting. Habitat Northern Virginia includes painting, wheelchair ramps, roofing, fencing, siding, and weatherization — but all are focused on external repairs, leaving critical gaps inside the homes.
The good news is that Habitat and Rebuilding Together are starting to team up. This year I was involved in the launch of a pilot partnership between Rebuilding Together Oakland and Habitat for Humanity East Bay, in which RTO coordinated homeowner relations while Habitat completed five major exterior projects including roofing, ramps, and stairs — projects that cash-strapped Rebuilding Together lacked the resources to carry out. Next year, Rebuilding Together Oakland hopes to expand the partnership, beginning a truly sustainable collaboration that plays to the strengths of both organizations.
It is remarkable how much hidden poverty surrounds us in America, particularly among the elderly, and although the client population I served at Rebuilding Together doesn’t seem particularly poor by some metrics — after all, they are all homeowners in the pricey Bay Area — a simple glance inside many of their homes belied such a belief. There are people in major cities in 21st-century America living without electricity, hot water, and ovens or stoves, with holes in the floors, walls, and roofs. These people are not homeless, nor looking for a new home; often they have worked their entire lives to pay off their mortgage and now, elderly, they are incapable of maintaining the place independently.
My fingers are crossed that Habitat’s entry into the home-repair sector will lead to more funding opportunities to address this silent crisis. Maintaining our existing housing stock — whether on a nonprofit or a for-profit level — requires a radical shift in strategy from the traditional American ideology of building new. The long-range impacts of new construction on climate change and land use cannot be ignored; neither can the homeowners who need our help immediately.
Filed under: Cities 
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UC Davis – Student Housing/Davis, CA
Reporting to the Assistant Director, Operations, lead the development, implementation and management of Student Housing's sustainability initiative. Provide leadership and direction for waste management through reuse, recycle, and compost programs. Provide billing analysis, reporting, and benchmarking for Student Housing facilities respective to electricity, domestic water, steam, chilled water, natural gas, and sewer. Initiate occupant comfort surveys on a regular basis and evaluate feedback to recommend reasonable improvements. Develop and facilitate effective outreach programs designed to encourage students, staff and visitors to conserve energy and water and reduce waste within the residence halls, dining facilities, apartments, shops and offices. Customer service is a significant responsibility of this position and requires a cooperative teamwork philosophy to create a working environment that stimulates the development of new services and innovative approaches to improve existing services. This position is accountable for meeting established expectations and will be responsible for the physical integrity and accountability for all assigned equipment and assets.
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California Housing Partnership/San Francisco, CA
The California Housing Partnership Corporation (www.chpc.net) assists nonprofit and government housing agencies to create and preserve energy efficient homes affordable to lower income households, while providing leadership on housing preservation policy and funding. As part of its mission, CHPC advocates for policy changes to make energy efficiency retrofit funding available to low income multifamily rental housing serving lower income Californians.
CHPC seeks a full time Policy Associate to advance policy and program changes that enable low income multifamily rental housing owner/managers to access energy efficiency funding and services. The Policy Associate will assist the Sustainable Housing Policy Coordinator and other staff to develop and implement policy strategies, identify and outreach to stakeholders with common interests, as well as to educate policy makers about the importance of investing in energy efficiency in low income multifamily rental housing.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
•Assist CHPC in advocating its positions through regulatory proceedings and initiatives involving the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission, including:
-The Energy Savings Assistance Program; the Green House Gas Allowance Revenue Allocation; and general energy efficiency proceedings.
-Energy Upgrade California’s multifamily work;
-AB 785 implementation (Comprehensive Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings)
•Represent CHPC before legislators and other government officials in support of CHPC’s key legislative issues.
•Conduct research, gather data, and create policy papers and memos in support CHPC’s energy efficiency, preservation, sustainable housing policy and outreach work.
•Nurture and expand the Green Rental home Energy Efficiency Network (GREEN), of which CHPC is the founder, by outreaching to potential participants and organizing and preparing CHPC/GREEN events and monthly meetings.
•Issue monthly GREEN newsletters promoting understanding of energy efficiency needs in affordable housing.
•Periodically conduct other policy research under the direction of CHPC’s Housing Policy Manager.
•Assist with office administration as directed.
Qualifications
•Demonstrated interest in and commitment to providing affordable housing for lower income Californians.
•A minimum of two years direct experience with public policy advocacy in the legislative and/or regulatory arenas advancing state legislation and/or active participation in a California regulatory proceeding
•Strong interest in and understanding of energy efficiency and sustainable housing issues.
•Experience with coalition building and stakeholder group management.
•Strong analysis, research, writing and speaking skills.
•Strong organizational skills, including the ability to set priorities, juggle multiple tasks, and meet deadlines.
•Highly self-motivated and able to work independently with minimal supervision and as part of a team.
•Strong interpersonal skills and ability to thrive in a close working environment with evolving priorities.
•Advanced degree in law, urban planning, public policy or related field desired.
Application Details
•CHPC is an equal opportunity employer where diversity is considered an asset.
•To apply, email a cover letter, detailed resume and short writing sample (in PDF format) to: info@chpc.net
•The Housing Policy Assistant reports to CHPC’s Sustainable Housing Policy Coordinator.
•Compensation will be commensurate with experience and budget. Excellent benefits.
•The position will remain open until filled.
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by Kamala Rao.
Cross-posted from Sightline Daily.
There’s an alley renaissance going on around the world. It
was born of a renewed love for urbanity that came along with the droves
of young, artistic types shunning the ‘burbs and repopulating North
America’s inner cities. They brought with them a desire to turn what
have traditionally been neglected and ugly inner-city dumping grounds
into vibrant, art-adorned, pedestrian-friendly public spaces.
Vancouver, B.C. — the city that has served as a North American icon for
creating liveable inner cities — is having its own “laneway” renaissance
(as alleys are known here). However, in Vancouver, the revival was
spawned by sky-high real estate prices, a lack of affordable housing,
and an ingenious plan to create “hidden density” in the city’s most
desirable single-family neighborhoods. Whereas some might see these
underutilized swaths of pavement as merely needing a little
beautification, the city saw it as an opportunity to provide
badly-needed rental units.
Before I get into all the reasons why I love this new housing
concept, first, a bit of an explanation. Laneway homes are basically
miniature versions of single-family homes — in the range of 500 to 1,000
square feet — that are built in what has traditionally been the garage
location of a single-family lot: in the backyard facing the lane. They
can’t be subdivided or sold separately from the main house on the lot. They can only be used for additional family space or rental income.
Their introduction into the frenetic Vancouver real estate scene was
part of a larger “Eco-Density Initiative” invented by former mayor Sam Sullivan and championed by current mayor
Gregor Robertson. The intention is to “help reduce [the city's] carbon
footprint, expand housing choices, and ensure Vancouver remains one of
the most liveable cities in the world.”
Here are four reasons I love them — and hope to see other cities throughout the world adopt them as a housing option:
1. They add “hidden density” to single-family neighborhoods.
The concept of “laneway housing” is actually quite ingenious. Think
about it: What other city has successfully added density to
long-established, single-family neighborhoods filled with $1
million-plus homes? The very thought of it conjures up images of staunch
NIMBYism. The city of Vancouver’s deft branding and effective outreach
smoothed the rollout of its laneway housing bylaw, keeping NIMBY
opposition to a minimum.
First of all, the city chose a good name. The term “eco-density”
reminds people of the significant environmental benefits of compact
communities, while neutralizing many of the concerns about noise,
traffic, and the erosion of the idealized, bucolic single-family
neighborhood.
Secondly, the city knew that adding density the traditional way — by
“up-zoning” to allow for multi-family dwellings — was going to be a
non-starter in these tony neighborhoods. In light of the great condo
boom of the last two decades, the city saw the value in preserving the
remaining single-family housing stock. Because no matter how much you
recognize the environmental benefits of density, no one would ever want
to see these beautiful, traditional neighborhoods — with their lovingly
refurbished, turn-of-the-century homes and tree-lined streets — destroyed
to make room for more glass-and-concrete towers.
The goal was to densify single-family neighborhoods without affecting
their character; so the density needed to be relatively hidden, with
no impact on the curb appeal of these long-established and highly-sought-after neighborhoods. They had already legalized basement rental
suites — the most hidden form of increased density — but were bold and
committed enough to ask themselves if they had actually done all they
could to increase housing options in the least dense parts of the
city.
Thus, laneway housing was born. The bylaw that gave birth to the
concept was passed in July 2009, and less than a year later, 100
of these pint-sized backyard homes had been permitted. Today, they are
becoming a relatively common sight in the back alleys of many Vancouver
neighborhoods.
2. They’re ultra-green.
Since World War II, our homes have gotten successively bigger,
consuming a large amount of resources to build, furnish, heat, and cool.
Of course, the smaller your home, the less energy and resources it
consumes. Laneway homes, by virtue of their size, are already nearly as
energy-efficient as condos, and at least one builder of laneway homes is
taking it a step further to see just how green these homes can be.
The firm builds exclusively with pre-fabricated, ultra-insulated
panels (R-40, for you green building geeks out there). They also use
small, energy-efficient appliances; triple-glazed windows; and optional
solar panels, wind turbines, and rainwater collection, in order to make
these green little houses even greener. The company is just now building
its first “net-zero” laneway home (meaning that it will collect all of
the energy it consumes via solar panels), which is loaded with the
latest in energy-efficient design features.
3. They provide a totally new housing option for those who can’t afford Vancouver’s sky-high home prices.
Most of the public conversation about laneway housing has centered on
sustainability and boosting the rental housing stock. But I wondered
what it was like to actually live in one of these backyard micro-homes.
After all, they really are a rare type of housing: a free-standing
structure the size and cost of a condo. So, I contacted Mathew Arthur,
who lives in the first laneway house built in Vancouver. At the time I
spoke with him, he’d been living there for over a year.
Mathew — a designer himself — appreciated the modern design of the tiny
home from the moment he saw it, and knew he had to live there. “In
Vancouver, if you’re a renter, you basically have two options: to live
in an old house that’s been cut up into apartments and probably not very
well kept up over the years, or to live in a condo, but this is
completely different. It’s the same price and modern design as a new
condo, but I have a whole house. There’s no one above or below me and I
have direct access to the outside.” As Mathew pointed out, laneway
houses allow people who can’t afford to buy (and there are many in
Vancouver, with its average detached home price now above $800,000) to
have their own little piece of land.
When I asked Mathew if it was challenging living in such a small
house — which he shares with his brother, and most nights, one or both of
their partners — he told me that it’s a difficult question to answer. He
doesn’t feel like the space, which is just over 700 square feet, is
small. “The house is so well-designed, it makes it easy to live in a
small space. Hopefully the creation of smaller housing like this will
help us as a society to re-focus on good design versus just creating
unnecessarily large, cookie cutter spaces.”
Good point: As our urban populations grow and densify, and urban land
becomes more scarce — and the price of all the resources it takes to build
and power a home continue to climb — laneway housing can indeed be a
model for living well within a constrained future.
4. They’re just downright adorable.
To make this point, I’ll finish here and let the photos do the explaining. Enjoy!
Related Links:
Moving documentary on ferry drivers who rescued 9/11 refugees
Toilet-sharing app CLOO’ turns your home into a public bathroom
Is this the world’s greenest neighborhood?
View full post on Grist.org – the latest from Grist
by Kaid Benfield.
Cross-posted from National Resources Defense Council.
One of the more creative ideas to emerge in those hectic (and, for
some, tragic) days following Hurricane Katrina was the invention of “Katrina Cottages,” sturdier and, to my eyes, much more attractive
alternatives to the FEMA trailers typically used to house displaced
residents. They are prefabricated and modular, and they can be
constructed on site or placed on wheels and transported like
conventional mobile homes. They are also designed so that they can be
anchored in place to become fixed, permanent housing. There are now
many variations, but these attributes are common to all.
I am proud to say that several of my friends were involved in the
cottages’ design, under the auspices of a massive volunteer effort
organized by the Congress for the New Urbanism called the Mississippi Renewal Forum. I was greatly impressed by the entire effort. I was also impressed by the cottages, in part because, where I come from,
mobile homes are affordable housing for a lot of people. If thoughtful
design can improve the genre, that is for the better, in my opinion. And, in fact, the concept is now being employed in an increasing number
of applications beyond the original post-disaster concept. (You can
read the history of the Katrina Cottages here.)
As I result, I was intrigued and pleased to read recently that a
developer is planning to recycle 12 of the cottages that are no
longer needed as temporary housing, using them as permanent housing on
an infill site in the town of Buena Vista, Colo. Dustin Urban
writes on the developer’s blog:
This unique infill project will feature 12 beautifully designed
and built one and two-bedroom “Katrina Cottages” originally used as
emergency housing after hurricane Katrina. With the majority offered for
long-term lease, the cottages will offer downtown living within walking
distance of schools, restaurants and shops. Located a block from East
Main Street, the cottages will support a more prosperous Main Street
business environment and will create a beautiful streetscape complete
with sidewalks and street trees.
This is terrific. The developer’s principal project in Buena Vista, South Main, is interesting in itself, with green and fitness-oriented features. One thing its housing does not appear to be, though—at least so far—is small. Another part of the developer’s website trumpets a large, custom-built Spanish Colonial house on “a large lot”
with “South Main’s most sizeable private outdoor space to date,”
apparently intended to be used as a part-time residence.
Meanwhile, in the iconic new urbanist resort town of Seaside, Fla., Katrina Cottages are being employed for a small educational facility. (Check out a 20-second video of the first cottage being transported into town and a six-second video of it being wheeled into place.)
Finally, Ocean Springs, Miss. is home to a mature, mixed-use
enclave of some 23 Katrina Cottages on a two-acre site called Cottage Square. The project was developed by architect Bruce Tolar and
Enterprise Community Partners, the national affordable-housing
organization. Enterprise, which NRDC helped to establish an award-winning green housing program a few years ago, owns the project. It was built as a demonstration of
the potential of the cottages, especially when employed together as a
neighborhood.
Tolar has an office in the project, which also hosts a hair salon and
real estate office in addition to homes. Lynn Lofton wrote in The Mississippi Business Journal:
The group of cheerful-looking cottages with their white picket
fences and welcoming front porches are making a statement about
alternative living in Ocean Springs. Cottage Square is being developed
on a two-acre plot on Government Street near downtown of this walkable
town. Planners hope it will serve as a model for the concept of
mixed-use zoning and affordable housing. The cottages, built in a
coastal style and painted pastel colors, are built to hurricane codes …
“We
work with local governments and developers to help provide housing,”
said Michelle Whetten, Gulf Coast director for Enterprise. “We were
invited to participate by the Katrina Cottage Group because we share a
lot of the same goals, and we wanted to demonstrate how these cottages
can be used. We also share their emphasis for green, energy-efficient
housing” …
She and Tolar believe the cottages are best when they’re in a
planned group such as this one. “They work best in a group with a mix of
styles, uses and income levels,” she said.
I have written before about the potential for cottage-sized housing, and think the Katrina
model has advanced the possibilities. I hope it continues to catch on.
Here’s a very informative video tour of Cottage Square, discussing
the cottages’ history and showing how the neighborhood can support a
sustainable lifestyle:
Related Links:
Could you squeeze into the world’s skinniest house?
In the market for a Tiny House? Here’s where to buy one
Build this beautiful shipping container house for only $40K
View full post on Grist – the latest from Grist
by Sarah Goodyear.
Last week, I wrote about the mind-bending
case of a developer who is giving away cars in order to convince people to
buy houses in a far-flung exurban development. It’s kind of like giving away
cigarettes to sell funeral plots.
The absurdity of the buy-a-house-get-a-car-free approach
only became clearer when I read a pair of articles over the weekend—one about
demographic trends, the other about shrinking cities.
The first comes from Robert Steuteville, writing on New
Urban Network about “The
coming housing calamity.” It details how an aging populace and changing
households could reveal critical weaknesses in our current housing stock and
policy:
Arthur
C. Nelson, one of the nation’s most prescient housing market researchers, says
the worst is yet to come [in the housing market]. The industry faces
demographic and economic forces that will apply unrelenting downward pressure
on the market for the next decade, Nelson told a group of journalists at the
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He called his
presentation “The Decade of Calamity.”
Nelson,
professor of city and regional planning at the University of Utah, reported prior to
the housing crash that the US faced a massive oversupply of large-lot
single family houses and an undersupply of multifamily units—and he warned
that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would confront deep troubles. All of these
views have held up—one reason why Nelson has credibility now. The other
reason is that Nelson’s views are based on solid research—some presented for
the first time at the symposium in mid-April.
Holding
the current demographics constant—that is to say, isolating and examining
the change in the populace between 2010 and 2020—reveals much about the
demand for new housing. Ninety percent of the increase will be households
without children, and 47 percent will be senior citizens (the latter resulting
from the rising tide of Baby Boomers who started turning 65 last year) …
Both
of these demographic groups lean toward multifamily and away from large-lot
sprawl. The impact of so many new households without children is obvious, but
readers may not find it immediately apparent why senior citizens favor
multifamily housing. Nelson explains: When those 65 and older move, 80 percent
vacate single-family houses, but only 41 percent move into single-family units.
The rest—59 percent—move into multifamily buildings for a variety of
reasons such as low maintenance and proximity to services. That’s a huge shift
coming from the decade’s fastest growing demographic group. “At 65, people tend
to sell houses,” says Nelson. “That’s going to impact society in a very big way
starting roughly five years from now.” He calls this effect “the great senior
sell-off.”
Sure, you can see this as calamitous, and for developers who
are wedded to extending sprawl, it will be. But instead of wringing our hands
over the latest apocalyptarian scenarios, we should be thinking instead of the
opportunities presented by the shifting needs and desires of the U.S.
population.
Those opportunities are both economic and environmental. If
people aren’t going to be buying large-lot single-family homes in
ever-more-distant suburbs, what kind of housing solutions are they going to
want? If they aren’t going to be buying more and newer patio sets and
barbecues, what are they going to be buying? Isn’t this a great chance to create
stronger, more resilient communities that are more sustainable, using market forces as leverage? And potentially to help build local retail economies? Christopher Leinberger of the Brookings Institution and Patrick Doherty of the New America Foundation have written powerfully about the potential of this kind of development to drive future growth.
More from the New Urban Network piece:
Despite the general bad news for the housing industry, some sectors will
flourish—especially transit-oriented development, rental units, and
multifamily and small lot housing. Some new urban development will
support the continued revitalization of cities, but much will be in the
suburbs, Nelson says.
The division of McMansions into multifamily homes, the type of solution that some planners have been advancing recently, is one possibility Nelson suggests.
In a market like this, grand developments might end up being less meaningful than smaller-scale, individually tailored rehabilitation and reclamation of existing buildings.
Which brings me to the second piece that caught my eye in
the last couple of days. Roberta Brandes Gratz wrote a post on Citiwire called
“How to beat the shrinking cities
syndrome,” in which she discusses a recent auction of distressed properties
in New Orleans that surprised city officials with the active bidding that it
drew.
According to Gratz, the auction—which featured 100
distressed properties—drew 1,000 bidders, and “officials were astounded.” Their astonishment makes sense, considering that the New Orleans metro area lost 11 percent of its population between 2000 and 2010. That shift, the biggest loss among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, was precipitated by Hurricane Katrina and cemented by a dismal job market.
Gratz thinks there are lessons to be learned from the New
Orleans example—and that they counter the approach being pursued in cities
like Detroit, where demolition is being celebrated as a necessary prelude to a
healthier future:
Why
wait years for big developers to buy big swaths of land for redevelopment with
the usual generous assortment of subsidies and tax incentives? Why not let the
market reemerge slowly with small help offered to individual buyers? This
happens to be the way regeneration has occurred in the many
once-deteriorated-but-now-revitalized neighborhoods across the country.
Developers are never the first ones into challenged neighborhoods; they follow
the small investors who take the risks and prove that the market exists. …
The
real challenge is to overcome the state and federal regulations and funding
opportunities that make this revitalization direction so difficult. Demolition
money is easier to come by. Big demolition contracts are easier to give. Mayors
love the photo-op that gives the impression of cleaning up blight. Lenders
don’t like the look of dilapidated old buildings, even if they are historic or
just solid old construction. They do, however, understand demolition and
formula building projects. And even though preservation, restoration,
conservation and renovation have saved more neighborhoods than urban renewal
ever did, the money to do more of it is the most complicated to get.
I don’t pretend to have the answers for every city, or any
city. But I do know that economies evolve. “New housing starts” wasn’t
always the definitive measure of our economic viability as a nation. And as
demographic trends change and resources become more limited, it’s a marker that needs to be
put into a different perspective. Redevelopment of existing properties can
create jobs, too. Building on the historic framework of
existing cities can take advantage of existing infrastructure that taxpayers
are already paying to maintain.
Resources are finite. There’s only so much land, so much energy, so much time to commute.
For inventive, entrepreneurial
minds, those limitations shouldn’t be terrifying. We can adapt. That’s what we do.
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by Jonathan Hiskes.
On Tuesday, the Obama
administration is holding a large summit on how to reshape
federal housing policy and eventually offload mortgage giants Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac, which the government bailed out in 2008. It’ll be a Very
Serious event in which the health of the economy gets top billing and the
health of the planet will be lucky to get even a passing mention.
But the type of housing
the government promotes has a big impact on climate change and other ecological
challenges. Should mortgage policy encourage sprawl instead of walkable
urbanism? Should it treat drafty, energy-hogging houses the same as well-sealed,
efficient ones? There’s a lot of interesting work being done to promote climate
solutions within housing policy, though it’s barely surfaced in economic
circles.
The Obama
administration is taking baby steps to move the nation away from car-dependant
sprawl, even if those aren’t likely to get much attention at the summit. For a primer on what it’s up to, you can’t do
better than “Reverse
Commute,” Alyssa Katz’s article in last month’s American Prospect.
Unfortunately, her most
striking news might be the daunting size of the challenge:
New measures to reverse the march of sprawl may be too
little, too late. It took seven decades and trillions in federal investment to
create the sprawl that the Obama administration is now moving to brake. The
first interstate highways rolled out in the 1950s with the present-day
equivalent of $300 billion in federal funds. The suburban home industry was
fueled by subsidies that today amount each year to almost twice HUD’s entire
budget.
By contrast, the administration’s plans rely on nudging private
growth in the right direction. But that assumes there’s growth to drive.
Somehow [the] project will have to re-engineer the physical form of the nation
in an economy drained of public funds, private credit, and, soon, cheap fossil
fuel.
There is good news in the
administration’s launch of the Partnership
for Sustainable Communities, a collaboration among the EPA and departments
of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. But it’s got less than $200
million to spend on projects so far and will depend on Congress for more.
The Obama administration
could make much bigger change by directing Fannie and Freddie to make location
efficiency part of their underwriting criteria:
[T]he administration is moving to do things for which it
doesn’t have to ask Congress to pay, such as influencing consumer choices
through devices like the location-efficient mortgage, which gives homebuyers
who settle near mass transit more borrowing power. The Obama administration is
betting that such gestures can influence individual decision-making on a large
scale by tilting economics to favor certain geographic choices over others.
I think Katz is optimistic
about how much the administration has embraced, or is even open to embracing,
such strategies. But they certainly deserve more attention. We’ll see if they
get any on Tuesday.
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