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.

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.

Providing Expertise

Education, training, and technical assistance are essential in order for the thousands of building professionals in the National Capitol Region to choose green practices and succeed in implementing DC's and Montgomery County's Green Building Acts. GreenHOME is building capacity throughout the development community and within government to transform the marketplace and accelerate the adoption of green building practices.

        Training
        Technical Assistance
        Online Guides
        Grants
        GreenSPACE: A Green Building Resource Center

Training

GreenHOME's trainings aim to create a cadre of DC area developers, designers, builders, public officials, lenders, and investors who can build green affordable housing. Trainings tailored to each audience show them how to successfully adopt green practices. The focus of these trainings is on how to think green: how an integrated design process catalyzes the shift to efficient components and systems, low-impact materials, and advanced design and construction methods.

Participants in GreenHOME's trainings walk out the door with much more than a Green Building Act to-do list. They leave knowing how green design makes for a fundamentally better building. Training sessions take a problem solving approach as they dive into key building components (building sciences, water, air quality, site design, landscaping, green neighborhoods, etc.), showing how the benefits of green outweigh the costs.

Early trainings helped to show building professionals what green affordable construction is all about, and how it can take place oneven an affordable housing budget. Now, as legislative requirements roll out, GreenHOME's trainings are building capacity amongst government staff and in the development community to make green affordable housing common practice.

Affordable Green 101 and Building Science 101 (2005)
This training showed how a better understanding of how buildings work can result in better buildings that maintain indoor air quality while using far less energy. Specifically, integrated design makes it all happen and keeps costs down. This training was the first of many successful efforts that have stemmed from GreenHOME's partnership with the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development.

Home Again - Ivy City training (2005)
A how-to session for developers who were interested in working on Home Again projects in Ivy City and other Washington D.C. neighborhoods, this training was the product of a collaboration with Enterprise Community Partners and Southface.

Integrated design charrette and workshop (2006)
GreenHOME collaborated with the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development (CNHED) and Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. to produce a competition for an integrated design charrette. The winning project and team, AHC Development, Inc., starred in a "fishbowl" workshop that literally engaged an audience of 70 affordable housing professionals in a live early-stage integrated design process, showing them how such a process works and why it is critical to successful green projects.

Introduction to Affordable Green workshops and train the trainers
GreenHOME trained a group of building professionals to give its "Introduction to Affordable Green" workshops, which lay out the elements of green development and the integrated design process. The "train the trainer" session featured a project manager from each of the five case studies used in GreenHOME's Intro Workshop. The project managers shared "lessons learned" from their experience and answered questions from the trainee presenters. As a result, each trainer could now incorporate the details of these affordable green case study projects and use the stories from the project managers to respond to questions from diverse audiences.

With a dozen effective workshops under our belt, GreenHOME plans 10 to 20 more over the next year.

What is a green neighborhood?
Developed in 2007 with leading Seattle design and planning firm and partner, Mithun, this presentation shows how green can go beyond individual buildings to make an entire neighborhood a better place for its residents and the environment.

Lessons Learned training
This training, again in partnership with Enterprise Community Partners and CNHED, was designed to help others learn from those who had successfully built or were currently building affordable housing projects to Enterprise's Green Communities standards (the standards required by D.C.'s Green Building Law). After an overview of Green Communities criteria, key practitioners - including a project manager, architect, engineer, and general contractor -- shared their experiences. Audience members connected with these stories and took home helpful hints and lessons learned that they can now apply to help their own projects go green. The featured projects included:

Galen Terrace, 84-unit rehab tenant purchase in SE, Washington, DC

New Shiloh Senior Living, 40-unit rental new construction, Baltimore, MD

Renaissance Square, 44-unit rental new construction in Hyattsville, MD

HIP's Artists' Housing, 12-unit rehab rental in Mt. Rainier, MD

Training series for practitioners and government officials
GreenHOME is working with outside experts to arrange a series of workshops that will begin this fall and extend into 2008. Parallel training sessions will be tailored for the government and building professional audiences and will specifically address the challenges of implementing the standards in the DC Green Building Act. Discussions with DC agencies are underway to identify training needs.

Technical Assistance

GreenHOME has facilitated green consultation for several renovation and new construction projects in Washington, DC and the region. The DC Green Communities partnership with Enterprise will offer technical assistance grants to offset incremental costs of green for several projects. By helping development teams and government agencies integrate green building into their RFP, design, financing, inspections, and permitting processes, we are jointly taking the first big steps toward implementing the Green Building Act.

In conjunction with Global Green, a national green housing leader, GreenHOME hosted a best practices workshop for its technical assistance partners in June 2005 to train green building design experts and expand their ability to work effectively with the affordable housing community.

GreenHOME consulted with the Bank of America CDC, Marshall Heights CDO, and Lano International on the Parkside project, a mixed-use, mixed-income, 14-acre site in the Kenilworth neighborhood of Washington, DC. 20 percent of the 1,500-2,000 residential units will be affordable.

GreenHOME also helped bring in green building experts to advise renovation and new construction projects for the District of Columbia Housing Authority's Modernization Division, DC and Baltimore community development organizations Mi Casa and Brooklyn and Curtis Bay Coalition, Inc., and Arlington's AHC, Inc.

By participating in three of DC's New Communities design charrettes, GreenHOME succeeded in having green standards incorporated into the goals and requirements for the Lincoln Heights and Barry Farms developments.

By offering grants to help nonprofit developers pay for an integrated design charrette, GreenHOME and Enterprise Community Partners have made it that much easier for the District's Department of Housing and Community Development to incorporate this crucial piece of the green affordable housing puzzle as part of the RFP process.

Online Guides

Green2Green
GreenHOME worked with GreenBlue in their creation of Green2Green:http://green2green.org an online resource to support the affordable housing professional in choosing green products and approaches.

D.C. Green Building Directory
Please contribute to our GreenHOME's growing directory of D.C. metro area green building tools, services, and products for affordable housing developers so that we can make this website even more valuable for you and the community.

Project-based Grants

GreenHOME, in collaboration with Enterprise Community Partners, has formed the DC Green Communities Initiative. One of the programs of the Initiative provides financial support for green development in the form of grants. These grants will help cover real project costs, assisting development teams understand and work through an integrative design process and offsetting capital expenses.

Technical assistance grants of up to $30,000 will be made available to help development teams meet Green Building Act requirements, including standards review, requirements, and energy modeling. Special allowance may be made for unique large-scale developments, if funding becomes available.

Capital budget assistance will be made available through grants. A standard grant of $1,500 per unit serving 60% AMI or less can cover up to 67 units per development. Special allowance may be made for unique large-scale developments, if funding becomes available.

A Green Building Resource Center

GreenHOME is working to bring GreenSPACE, a green building resource center, to DC. This staffed facility would host trainings, charrettes, and construction demonstrations. It would also have a range of green building products, materials, and information on hand.

Sustainable Future

Beyond encouraging the development and rehabilitation of green buildings, GreenHOME aims to make the Washington, D.C. region a sustainable place to live and a practical and inspirational model for the nation. By educating and inspiring policymakers and the development community to make a commitment to green neighborhoods and sustainable cities, green affordable housing can demonstrate green approaches that are not only economical and doable but that also engage the broadest support for transforming our communities.

Forward thinking

With the help of Seattle-based experts Mithun Architects and Planners, GreenHOME has created an in-depth presentation that introduces the concepts behind sustainable neighborhood development. Then, together with the Center for American Progress, GreenHOME recently hosted 160 key decision makers in a "conversation" with leading green developers and advocates on how Washington, D.C.'s Green Building Act opens the door to opportunities for green neighborhoods, and how a sustainable city framework could set the stage for development in Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region.

GreenHOME's partnership with Enterprise Community Partners to establish the D.C. Green Communities Initiative also offers a context for development that goes beyond affordable green housing to engage and inspire the region--particularly leadership in the business, politics, advocacy, and philanthropy communities--to see future development through a lens of sustainability. A presentation to the Washington Grantmakers working group on sustainability was an important step in this effort.

Sustainability Action Plan

GreenHOME has been working closely with the Center for American Progress (CAP) and D.C.'s Office of Planning and Department of the Environment to help the District of Columbia undertake a comprehensive environmental agenda. A carbon footprint analysis (produced by ICLEI) will support planning and implementation of carbon emission reduction efforts in the city. It will also serve as the first component of a broader set of metrics that will lay the foundation for integrated planning. The goal is to improve planning and its impact on everything from air quality and energy investments to stormwater runoff and health.

To further support this effort, GreenHOME, Enterprise, and CAP co-sponsored an October 2007 conversation with Chris Garvin, a leader of Terrapin Bright Green and a key player in the creation of PlaNYC, New York City's far-ranging GreeNYC initiative. Chris spoke about the process of creating a bold green city action plan and facilitated an important conversation with 60 key stakeholders about the kind of process we can follow here in D.C.

Green economy

Building green will generate new jobs in performance commissioning, energy analysis, and materials recycling. A commitment to green neighborhoods and sustainable cities will give rise to whole new economic development and new businesses and has the potential to create "green collar" jobs in clean technology, alternative energy, and improved construction practices. Enterprise Community Partners, the Center for American Progress and GreenHOME have kick-started this process with a stakeholder meeting to generate ideas on how to create new jobs with the Green Building Act. A successful October 2007 hearing on the subject by D.C. Councilman and economic development committee chair Kwame Brown followed with testimony provided by over 45 professionals and community advocates.