The impacts of our changing climate worsen the affordable housing crisis, putting millions of households at risk of displacement.
We have heard from owners and operators that they want to make their properties more resilient to these environmental risks but are unsure what strategies could be both effective and affordable.
Enter Enterprise’s newest initiative, our Climate Resilience Academies.
These regional, cohort learning opportunities are for owners, operators and developers of multifamily affordable housing to engage with one another, content experts and local stakeholders to address the unique hazards of their region. Together, participants will identify critical vulnerabilities, offer solutions and technical assistance to improve portfolio resilience to future threats, and incorporate community resilience strategies.
Focus areas
Focus areas will all be tailored to regional-specific needs, and will include:
- Assessing portfolio risk.
- Building and retrofitting new and existing housing.
- Understanding federal assistance programs and how to access them.
- Incorporating community engagement and cultural resilience strategies.
The pilot academy will begin this fall, taking place virtually in the Southeast, and traveling from there to other regions around the country.
Session 1: Assessing your climate risk
Applications are now closed to join the learning cohort, but all sessions have a component that's open to the public, including our first session: Climate Context: Assessing Climate Risk in the Southeast. Join us virtually on Thursday, September 30, from 1-2 p.m. ET for a training session with Enterprise’s Laurie Schoeman, Chandra Christmas-Rouse, Andrea Galinski of The University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies, and the National Housing Trust.
Our first session will kick off with a regional scan of the Southeast laying out current and future climate hazards and environmental justice vulnerabilities. Attendees will communicate what types of hazards they see as their biggest risks, and learn how to assess them in order to take action. We will hear local case studies on assessing property and human risk, and learn how peers can apply that to their own communities.
If you have any additional questions about this exciting new training opportunity, please let us know! You can contact Mihir Parikh, senior program coordinator, at resilienceacademy@enterprisecommunity.org.