Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future's (SAHF)'s case study explores learnings from Preservation of Affordable Housing's (POAH's) Salem Heights development, which electrified the HVAC system and improved the building envelope. The report shares details about the funding used and other strategies employed to make the project come together.

This article breaks down a range of standards and considerations designed to build affordable housing more sustainably. It draws on interviews with industry partners to illustrate the progress that the sector has made as well as highlights work that still needs to be done. It also features affordable housing developers who are currently making green decisions in their projects.

Electrifying heating systems with air-to-air heat pumps is crucial for achieving global greenhouse gas targets. This report uses simulations of 550,000 U.S. households to evaluate the costs and benefits of various heat pump performance levels and insulation upgrades. The analysis highlights the potential for significant emissions reductions and identifies the importance of efficiency and insulation in optimizing cost-effectiveness. It also suggests that supportive incentives and policies may be necessary to address affordability challenges and promote widespread adoption.

Advanced Energy Design Guide for Multifamily Buildings-Achieving Zero Energy (AEDG) is the third in the AEDG zero energy guide series. The design guide outlines strategies for achieving energy targets such as setting measurable goals, hiring design teams committed to those goals, using simulation throughout the design and construction processes and being aware of how process decisions affect energy usage. In this edition, content has been included on renovation and resiliency along with expanded guidance on hot water and high load in multifamily buildings.

Through a series of workshops in key cities, including Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, Atlanta, Sacramento, and D.C., RMI and Wells Fargo partnered to address decarbonizing affordable housing in high-energy burdened markets nationwide. These workshops fostered collaboration among stakeholders, resulting in the development of this comprehensive toolkit. The toolkit equips stakeholders with the necessary resources to optimize the deployment of policies and financing tools, address major capital improvement needs, spur green job growth, and prioritize tenant protections. The resource spotlights current challenges stakeholders face across various markets, and more importantly underscores the collective determination to forge a more prosperous and sustainable future across the nationwide affordable housing stock.

Communities across the nation are regularly experiencing natural disasters or recovering from them. While all communities are at risk, low-income communities are disproportionately affected by climate events and often have limited resources to recover. This guide provides owners and operators of multifamily housing with practical guidance on re-designing and retrofitting their buildings to adapt to and provide protection from climate risks and other potential hazards.

This case study provides an overview of the adaptive reuse of the historic Ohringer Building in Braddock, PA. Guided by the Enterprise Green Communities 2015 criteria, developers were able to transform this local landmark into affordable, climate-ready housing while preserving the history and integrity of the building.

Salem Heights Apartments, an affordable multifamily property in Massachusetts, recently underwent a deep energy retrofit to achieve passive house performance. This case study highlights the retrofit design strategies that enable 60% energy use reduction and show the integrated benefit of efficiency improvements, electrification, and solar. Specific strategies are described for the building envelope, exterior insulation, HVAC, and solar energy.

Over half of California’s 3.2 million multifamily units were constructed before energy efficiency standards, resulting in poor performance and high greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve California’s greenhouse gas reduction goals, affordable multifamily housing must improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and lower tenant utility bills while enhancing quality of life. Yet building owners face many challenges to improving the performance of their buildings. This report covers the role certain types of energy service agreements, combined with federal incentives, can play in scaling affordable multifamily retrofits.

This case study showcases Allston Brighton CDC’s approach to decarbonizing multiple properties through deep energy retrofits. This nonprofit affordable housing owner in Boston has emerged as a champion of building decarbonization. They are poised to cut energy consumption by an impressive average of 55% across 103 residential units. What’s more, their team members have offered a one-page guide for similar building owners and projects on how to pursue various funding sources for retrofit success.