Partners
The DC Green Communities Initiative
"Bringing the Benefits of Green Housing to Low-Income Residents of the District"
Formed in early 2007, the D.C. Green Communities Initiative is GreenHOME's invaluable partnership with Enterprise Community Partners, one of the nation's leading providers of development capital and expertise for low-income housing and communities. The initiative is starting to see real success as DC government steps up to the challenge of the D.C. Green Building Act. The grants available to nonprofit developers to help pay for newly required integrated design charrettes--half funded by D.C Green Communities and half by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)--are the best recent example. Our partnership has and will continue to assist local governments in the region to enact and implement smart and sustainable housing and economic development policies.
GreenHOME and Enterprise work together to provide expertise, grants, and capital to enable developers to build and rehabilitate homes that are healthier, more energy efficient and better for the environment - without adding infeasible extra costs. Another grant program by the Initiative will help developers cover the incremental costs of going green, costs that typically decline after a developer's first green project.
Partnerships for Technical Assistance
In pursuit of the partnerships that can institutionalize market transformation, GreenHOME has worked with nonprofits and consultants to increase their knowledge of green affordable housing and to produce trainings for a broader audience.
The Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, an association of nonprofit developers, gave GreenHOME a stage for a series of successful training events, including a charrette competition for affordable housing that resulted in a live charrette training session with trainee spectators. We are working closely with green building consultants GreenShape, Sustainable Design Consulting, and TerraLogos to help guide affordable housing providers through the integrated design charrettes required to meet the Green Communities Criteria.
GreenHOME has also worked with green affordable housing experts at New Ecology, Global Green, and The Green Roundtable. We helped GreenBlue develop their new online tool, Green2Green. Local design and construction firms Gensler, Torti Gallas, and Turner Construction have also helped identify resources and create training materials.
D.C. Government as a Partner
Our growing partnerships with DC government have advanced our work the most in the second half of 2007. The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is working with GreenHOME to lead the way toward green affordable housing for the District. New director Leila Edmonds and advisor Maribeth DeLorenzo have embraced the Green Building Act and have partnered with GreenHOME and Enterprise to train their employees and provide grants to nonprofit developers to help them meet some of the new requirements. DHCD has demonstrated leadership and encouraged other agencies to join them. The District Department of the Environment (DDoE) has also become an invaluable partner. Engaging Director George Hawkins and offering GreenHOME's expertise as well as that of outside experts has helped DDoE assert itself not only as the oversight agency for implementation of the Green Building Act, but also as a coordinating agency for sustainability efforts throughout DC government.
Partnerships for Policy
GreenHOME helped to assemble a broad coalition to craft and enact the DC Green Building Act. As we work to successfully implement the legislation, we have seen just how important is it to deepen that base of support. Our policy partnerships have allowed GreenHOME to do just that by building a context for development that goes beyond affordable green housing and requirements for building green buildings.
The Center for American Progress (CAP) has played a key role in maintaining the momentum for green development. In June 2007, CAP, GreenHOME, and Enterprise hosted a conversation about green neighborhoods and sustainable cities. That event has led to government efforts to account for D.C.'s greenhouse gas emissions and to an effort to evaluate all city agencies' environmental impacts. GreenHOME's growing relationships with the DC Office of Planning and DDoE have helped us shape these and other policies that promote green development.
CAP and Enterprise also led a successful effort to show city officials how the Green Building Act and other environmental policies have created opportunities for economic development. These partners and GreenHOME hosted a "green collar jobs" forum with national leaders, then organized extensive testimony at a city council hearing on the same subject. By demonstrating how green building can create high-paying, entry level jobs for local residents, we gained support for market transformation.