Changing Policy

GreenHOME was one of the leaders of a coalition effort to re-shape and enact the "District of Columbia Green Building Act of 2006," making Washington, DC the first major city in the country to require green building standards for both private and public buildings. With affordable housing as our focus, GreenHOME is now working to make certain that affordable green neighborhoods are a fundamental building block of vibrant, healthy cities: cities that reduce our impact on the environment, generate new engines for economic growth, and maximize our quality of life, especially for those most economically challenged. By promoting the adoption of sustainable infrastructure designs, the preservation of natural features, and easy access to key amenities like transit and retail, GreenHOME works to make our communities not just places to live, but places to grow.

Creating DC's Green Building Act

With the DC City Administration and City Council, GreenHOME helped create and support a Green Building Legislation Task Force that developed the Green Building Act. GreenHOME and its partners, Enterprise Community Partners, the Center for American Progress and Gensler Architecture, Design & Planning Worldwide, co-hosted two focus groups that built support among a broad group of stakeholders: housing developers, lenders, and the smart growth, healthy housing, environmental, and affordable housing advocacy communities. To pass the Green Building Act, GreenHOME coordinated testimony at hearings, educated Council members, brought in experts from other cities, and lined up support from key stakeholders and the community.

Government capacity for implementation

To successfully implement the Green Building Act, GreenHOME serves as a support and catalyst to DC government departments and agencies and helps them coordinate their efforts as they develop regulations and procedures. GreenHOME Executive Director Patty Rose is one of Mayor Fenty's Green Building Advisory Council appointees. GreenHOME Board member Cliff Majersik and Board chair emeritus Chris VanArsdale also serve on the Advisory Council. The DC Green Communities Initiative, a collaboration between GreenHOME and Enterprise Community Partners, is raising funds to continue providing expertise to and build capacity amongst government officials. The Initiative also continues to help shape policy aimed at furthering the goal of a sustainable District of Columbia and metropolitan Washington region. (See the Providing Expertise page for more details).

Beyond buildings: Green neighborhoods and a sustainable city

DC and the region can capitalize on the Green Building Act to extend high performance design to all buildings. We are also using the act as a springboard to create a new green sector of DC and the Region's economy that will play a vital role in our region's ability to take advantage of the growing need to protect our environment by creating business approaches, new jobs and economic development policies, improve municipal infrastructure. GreenHOME is working to develop and support new policies that will make each of these a reality and that will go beyond the benefits of green buildings with the promise of green neighborhoods and a sustainable city. (See the Sustainable Future page for more.)

• With board and staff representation on the DC Green Building Advisory Council, GreenHOME will review proposals for greening the DC building code and for developing standards for green schools and residential construction.

• GreenHOME is working with the Center for American Progress and the District Department's of the Environment and the Office of Planning to calculate DC's carbon footprint and energy use. This is the first step in calculating the impact of the Green Building Act in environmental terms and in establishing a broader set of metrics for integrated planning.

• Council member Mary Cheh's energy legislation, introduced in November 2007, offers several opportunities to advance clean energy and energy efficiency in Washington, D.C. Board members are already involved, and GreenHOME will call upon its partners from the Green Building Act effort and work to generate public support for legislation that creates additional incentives for green building.

• Enterprise Community Partners, the Center for American Progress, and GreenHOME held a stakeholder meeting to generate ideas on how to create new jobs with the Green Building Act. This event supported an October '07 hearing on the subject held by DC Council member Kwame Brown.

• The Green Building Act does not directly address stormwater management, one of the District's most serious environmental problems. As Councilman Graham seeks to revise stormwater regulations, GreenHOME is working in partnership with groups such as DC Greenworks, DC Appleseed, and Casey Trees to create incentives for low-impact development: from green roofs and construction best practices for buildings to porous pavement and tree and rain garden plantings that can transform whole neighborhoods.