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.

Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future's (SAHF)'s case study explores challenges and achievements from The Community Builders' North Commons at Village Hill development in western Massachusetts, built to the Passive House standard. The case study shares the developer's perspective on assembling a team, electrifying hot water heating, and installing Phius-compliant windows. Ultimately, the benefits outweighed the costs for this development.

This case study details a property manager's process to assess a building's energy use, lead an audit, and access local resources to improve energy efficiency.

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.

This post examines the work involved to incorporate decarbonization and resilience upgrades into multifamily retrofits. Industry leaders share their perspective on the considerations the affordable housing industry must keep in mind to meet this moment.

Decarbonizing residential building stock is crucial to mitigating climate change. However, local and national decarbonization policies can potentially create unintended harms for tenants, including unsustainable rent raises and unnecessary or illegal evictions. These policies must be designed and implemented carefully to protect renters, who are more likely than homeowners to be from Black, Brown, and low-income communities that already disproportionately bear the negative effects of climate change. Not doing so will exacerbate the housing crisis while driving more Americans into homelessness. This paper offers recommendations for tenant protection in building decarbonization policies.

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.

This blog post details the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) finalization of Part 1 of a national zero emissions building definition, emphasizing operational carbon emissions. This definition outlines three key criteria for buildings: energy efficiency, no on-site emissions, and the use of all-clean power sources. It aims to enhance public health, lower energy costs, and protect the climate. The post highlights the positive industry and advocate reactions, notes the importance of addressing embodied carbon in future updates, and explains how new and retrofitted homes can meet the definition. It emphasizes the economic feasibility and investment potential in zero-emission buildings and outlines steps for builders to achieve compliance.

New York State and New York City have enacted climate legislation with ambitious energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction targets. New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) and New York City’s Local Law 97 (LL97) impact various housing sector stakeholders, including owners, developers, renters, and financiers. Compliance will require significant investments over the next two decades, especially for high-emission buildings. While market-rate properties can finance upgrades through operating income or debt, affordable housing faces financial challenges.

Recommendations in this paper focus on strategies to make compliance more feasible and accelerate decarbonization for all housing sectors.