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.

The Hub is a technical resource designed to help equip the multifamily affordable housing community in Colorado with electrification design and decisions through access to technical resources, peer learning, and financing and development resources. This resource supports Colorado’s Renewable Energy and Climate Action Goals. In addition to local code compliance, building electrification can help reduce carbon emissions, improve indoor air quality for residents, reduce operating costs, and more.

Green building certifications provide benefits for a wide range of building stakeholders, with a focus on residents. The systems establish a roadmap that development teams can use to design and construct healthy, highly efficient buildings. This review provides a comparison of multifamily green building certifications to help stakeholders understand the relevant requirements and value proposition of each rating system. Analysis focuses on the application of these certifications to multifamily affordable developments in Colorado, including Housing Tax Credit developments.

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.

Geothermal heat pumps offer highly efficient heating and cooling without fossil fuels. They are especially valuable in supplying heating on extremely cold days and support heating electrification with only modest impacts on electric grids. These heat pumps are widely applicable from single family homes to large properties, or even networked systems providing heating and cooling to entire neighborhoods. The blog article highlights the characteristics of this technology and new opportunities for greater adoption.

This case study illustrates how Mercy Housing replaced inefficient, in-unit heating equipment in its Monsignor Lyne property with heat pumps, adding air conditioning to resident units in the process, which allows residents to enjoy year-round comfort. This case study also describes how Mercy Housing electrified its domestic hot water heating system and provides cost savings information, stemming from the retrofit, for both owners and residents.

Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) created a series of fact sheets tailored toward residents that explains different building upgrades and their benefits. Each fact sheet includes the types of measures to expect and energy efficiency upgrades that should result from the retrofit. The categories of upgrades are building shell; domestic hot water (DHW); heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC); lighting, and renewable energy.

The Building America Solution Center provides access to expert information on hundreds of high-performance construction topics, including air sealing and insulation, HVAC components, indoor air quality, and more. Resources range from research reports, how-to-guides for installation, decision-making tools, green building certification program checklists, and more.

This brief by Urban Land Institute discusses factory-built housing and ways that it can benefit the affordable housing sector. It highlights findings from two nonprofit housing developers (one based in Brownsville, Texas and the other in Southern California) and assesses the barriers involved in scaling this work. Manufactured housing offers a possible solution for closing the affordable housing gap and creating climate-resilient housing.