Blending affordability with sustainability

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As Cascadia Green Building Council’s Oregon Advocacy and Outreach Manager, Kelley Beamer works with the state’s sustainability community to create a positive environmental influence through the built environment. You can reach Beamer at kelley.beamer@cascadiagbc.org, or 503-228-5533 xt2#.

When we use the word habitat, we usually think of an environment or specific conditions that allow an organism to grow and prosper. For salmon it is a cold, clean, ocean-going river. For the northern spotted owl, it is the cool, coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Habitat is also a Latin verb meaning "inhabits, or dwells in." It is this definition that anchors the work of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live.

Like any other species, humans thrive when provided a stable and healthy environment. Studies show that the stability for children in an owned home produces measurable results in higher math and reading scores, fewer behavioral problems and higher rates of high school graduation.

The ecological and anthropological underpinnings of the word habitat set the stage for a unique partnership between affordable housing advocates and green building professionals to address the crucial question: How do we expand affordable home ownership while protecting our greater ecological systems?

This relationship is now being forged in Central Oregon between Cascadia Green Building Council’s High Desert Branch and the Bend Area Habitat for Humanity. In realizing common goals encompassed in the word habitat, both organizations are uniting to build simple, decent and affordable homes that are also healthy, efficient and environmentally responsible.

Founded in 1989, Bend Area Habitat for Humanity is the only organization in Bend that provides home ownership opportunities for low-income families, thereby helping them to break the cycle of poverty. They are offered a hand up not a hand out.

Each partner family invests roughly 500 hours of sweat equity in building their homes or by serving Habitat in other ways. Habitat homeowners also must complete personal finance and homeownership classes to prepare them for a lifetime of homeownership. When the home is complete, Habitat sells the home to the selected family using a 20-year, 0 percent interest mortgage. As mortgage payments come in, they are used to build more homes. To date, Bend Area Habitat for Humanity has built 91 homes using this model.

Since 2006, Bend Habitat has been using green building techniques. All homes are Energy Star certified and built to Earth Advantage Gold standards. As a result, the homes are already 30 percent more efficient than homes built only to current building code standards. Habitat homes are also using photovoltaic solar panels. In an area like Bend that rests on the eastern slopes of the Cascade range, sunshine is abundant and is easily harnessed for natural light and heating. The energy efficient, environmentally responsible choices also happen to be affordable.

For people living on low incomes, energy costs represent a significantly higher proportion of household expenses than for people with middle or higher incomes. Bend Area Habitat for Humanity has committed to addressing this issue by providing renewable energy sources to their homeowners.

In addition to optimizing energy efficiency in its new homes, Bend Habitat also wants to address sustainable site selection, materials, water efficiency and other avenues for environmental stewardship. This is where Cascadia Green Building Council volunteers have stepped up to help and are looking for others to join.

With support from local volunteers, Bend Habitat is pursuing its first LEED home. The nonprofit secured a grant from the U.S. Green Building Council and will use volunteer LEED professionals from Cascadia to achieve the certification.

This project began in early May with excavation. The footings and stem walls have been poured and the sill plates have been installed. While volunteers are backfilling the walls, plumbers are preparing the radiant floor heating system, all in preparation to pour the slab on grade as soon as next week. Once the concrete cures, framing will commence in earnest.

While building a single LEED home is a remarkable success, both green building advocates and affordable housing advocates envision a long-term program that would allow every new Habitat home to be built to LEED standards. However, they can’t do it alone. As with all Habitat for Humanity projects, support from the community is required. This support comes in the form of volunteer time, financial support, and in-kind support of materials and services. In addition, Bend Habitat relies on finding pass through buyers for Business Energy Tax Credits to support the installation or renewable energy systems for its homes.

The potential of creating affordable new homes that are also healthy and environmentally responsible creates a ripe opportunity. A project team is meeting on a regular basis and would like to extend an invitation to any interested parties who can help with this unique collaboration or help expand it to other regions.

As Cascadia Green Building Council’s Oregon Advocacy and Outreach Manager, Kelley Beamer works with the state’s sustainability community to create a positive environmental influence through the built environment. You can reach Beamer at kelley.beamer@cascadiagbc.org, or 503-228-5533 x2#. If you would like to contribute to green building effort at Bend Area Habitat for Humanity, contact Robin Cooper, Community Outreach Manager, (541) 385-5387.