The Greening Of Through Public And Private Partnerships: Development Of A Model for Green Affordable Housing
INTRODUCTION:
“A decent home in a suitable living environment for every American family,” one of the major goals stated in the United States Housing Act of 1949, was reaffirmed in the 1990 National Affordable Housing Act with the added condition that the housing should be affordable. In this context, a widely accepted definition of affordable is “Housing for which the occupant is paying no more than 30% percent of his or her income for gross housing costs, including utilities”. As the primary purpose of affordable housing is to provide safe and decent housing for low and moderate income households, it should be designed and built to be more durable as well as being not significantly more expensive to build and cheaper to operate, thus enabling homeowners to meet other basic needs such as nutrition and healthcare. Affordable housing shapes the lives of its residents, alters dynamics of neighborhoods, and affects the environment in many ways. It is also closely correlated with green building, which integrates three components of sustainability, namely social equity, economy and environment.
Affordable Housing:
Although there is no widely accepted definition affordable housing, HUD considers that monthly housing costs in adequate housing or a decent home in a suitable living environment for family should not exceed 30% of household income. However, many American families do not have access to housing that meets these criteria in which to live, enjoy their home and raise their children.
This is a long-standing problem; Wallace (1995) reported that millions of low-income U.S. households lacked decent and affordable housing, with 40% of very low and moderate-income families suffering rent burdens that exceeded 50% of their income. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (1993), most low-income households in the United States were receiving no federal assistance and had a priority housing problem, resulting in a severe housing cost burden related to the shortage of adequate housing. To address the issue of affordable housing for low and moderate income households, the federal government began to provide support for affordable housing including public housing programs, subsidies for privately owned multifamily rental properties, rental assistance to tenants, and various homeownership programs.
Green Building:
Interest in the efficient use of energy and reduced environmental impacts of construction activities that is typically made possible by the adoption of green building approaches has increased markedly in recent years. The underlying purpose of green building strategies and technologies is to protect and preserve land and sites, enhance indoor environmental quality, reduce environmental impacts of materials, optimize energy performance and protect and conserve water.
Government Affordable Housing Programs:
The federal government has provided support for affordable housing, chiefly for low and moderate-income householders, for some time. One of the main programs in this area is the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), authorized under Title 1 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. The purpose of the CDBG is to support the development of viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for low-and moderate-income householders.
CONCLUSION:
This case study and post occupation survey of the RLS project in Blacksburg, VA, was used to develop a green affordable housing development framework that could achieve the dual goals of green building and affordable housing. With regard to the green building features, an important finding was that infill development that utilizes an existing infrastructure can be particularly effective as it revitalizes the local neighborhood by taking advantage of well-established public transportation links and community amenities.