sustainability

There’s no denying that affordable housing can be expensive to build. But we need to look at the long-term benefits of those investments to see the bigger picture.

Neighborhoods on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro face a multitude of challenges, including social and racial inequity, and a lack of public services. This organization is hoping to prove that solar energy can benefit neighborhoods, lower electric bills, and provide jobs.

In Louisville, low-income and Black populations living in neighborhoods dealing with decades of industrial pollution are now suffering the worst public health outcomes of COVID-19.

In Charleston, South Carolina’s historically significant Eastside neighborhood, the city is trying new approaches to improving energy efficiency and flood protection.

My first reaction to the emergence of “resilience” as a lens for viewing community development was mostly informed by skepticism.

Community development fits well within the growing resilience movement—and connecting the two more explicitly could make their work even more powerful.

Cities cannot weather the effects of climate change without going beyond infrastructure to address institutional racism, historical inequities, and access to physical and mental health services.

By building energy-efficient properties, Habitat reduces heating costs and frees up more than $100 each month for homeowners.

As extreme weather patterns in our country become less of an anomaly, the plight of people living in storm-prone places is of increasing concern. Emotional ties to place and family […]

Located in the southeast quadrant of Washington, D.C., Parkchester Apartments was not unlike some other affordable housing developments in the city. Property owners had come and gone without making adequate investments in the nine-building complex, and residents had all but given up when its tenant association voted to bring in its current owner, The NHP Foundation (NHPF), in 2015. Within months, residents began to see signs of improvement. Top on the list of changes was the realignment of Parkchester’s environmental footprint.

Orness Plaza is one of the only public housing developments geared toward seniors and the disabled in Mankato, Minn., the state’s fourth largest city. Although the city boasts significant economic […]

Holistic, green building certifications are an increasingly integral part of affordable housing development. These certifications are often pursued by developers due to incentives in competitive funding allocations, requirements in formula-based […]