Green Communities

The Network’s members are national leaders in building and operating green and sustainable communities. Our regional, partnership-based approach supports cross sector collaborations that promote smart growth, energy efficiency and transit oriented development. Through international peer exchange and business cooperation among nonprofits in the United States, England, Canada, and other European countries, we are accelerating innovation and adoption of cutting edge technologies and strategies in our affordable housing communities.

Practice

• Chaired by CommonBond Communities and National Church Residences, the Green Working Group facilitates learning and collaboration among more than twenty five Network members. Supported by funding from the Home Depot Foundation, key initiatives include strategies to benchmark current energy usage, finance high impact energy retrofits, align incentives between owners and residents, and forge partnerships with utilities and government.  To join the working group and the green community in Housing Partnership Online please contact Manuel Muelle.

Partnerships

• Leveraging our buying power and market knowledge through Housing Partnership DIRECT, the Network’s group buying collaborative, members can purchase environmentally friendly, low VOC products such as paints and carpets as well as high efficiency appliances.  Through a joint agreement with Bright Power Inc., a leading renewable energy consulting firm, we are working together to measure and compare energy use in our properties and to identify the most effective strategies to reduce consumption and carbon emissions.

Policy

• New policy approaches are critically needed to allow nonprofits to use their new housing developments and existing properties as laboratories for sustainable development, energy retrofits, and more efficient operations.  With support from the Rockefeller Foundation, our policy agenda and work priorities focus on obtaining financing and loan guarantees for retrofitting, freeing up residual receipts and project reserves for energy improvements, and promoting greater flexibility and funding in the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Energy and Transportation grant programs for integrated housing, energy and transportation strategies.