Green Homes Made Affordable

“When will I find a green home in my price range?”

It’s a question often heard from sustainability devotees who have been keeping an eye on the growth of the green housing market, yet still find themselves priced out due to the amount of up-front investment that is required when building green.

LEED ND Addresses Affordability

But the subject of affordability has finally entered the green building dialogue. The LEED ND rating system, which will go public early next year, has established a definition of sustainability that goes beyond energy savings. In addition to awarding points based on urban planning criteria such as utilization of infill sites and proximity to public transit, LEED ND also awards points based on affordability. Its Pilot Version Rating System awards 1-2 points (out of a possible 106 total points) for making “Affordable For-Sale Housing,” and offers three options for obtaining those points:

• Option 1: At least 10% of for-sale housing is priced for households up to 80% of the area median income (1 point),
• Option 2: At least 20% of for-sale housing is priced for households up to 120% of the area median income (1 point), or
• Option 3: At least 10% of for-sale housing is priced for households up to 80% of the area median income and an additional 10% of for-sale housing is priced for households at up to 120% of the area median income (2 points).

A Portland Neighborhood Earns Points for Affordability

Helensview Homes in Portland, OR, which recently received LEED ND Gold certification, is an example of a neighborhood that earned points for being affordable. The Helensview neighborhood was created by non-profit developer Home Ownership a Street at a Time (HOST); HOST’s homes are marketed to low- to moderate-income families, with the intention of helping renters become first-time homeowners. HOST has built more than 300 affordable homes in the Portland area since 1991. The Helensview neighborhood is presently under construction, and the current price range for one of these 2, 3, or 4 bedroom houses is $189,000 - $244,000. According to a May 2008 article in Sustainable Life, the median price for a home price in Portland is $339,900.

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The high-density development is being built on previously developed land. Stormwater will be managed on-site. As with most green construction, homeowners are expected to pay lower monthly utility bills due to features such as extra insulation, energy efficient appliances, and tankless water heaters. Yards will contain drought-tolerant plants.

Is 1 to 2 LEED Points Enough?

The question that is now being asked is: do one or two optional LEED points really provide enough of an incentive for builders to offer affordable housing? Some say no; Smart Growth Online says some green development advocates would like to see the USGBC make affordable housing a LEED-ND prerequisite, or at least assign affordability more points.

Assigning affordability more weight in green design rating systems may in fact be more than just social engineering (a criticism that some LEED detractors have leveled), since “Drive ’til you Qualify,” has become a common term in real estate circles. The Affordable Housing Institute online article, “Driving to the Poorhouse,” states, “At some instinctive level, we all know that house prices and commute times are reverse-correlated: the price of a short commute is a high home price, and the cost of a low home price is a long commute.” If this is the case, then urban density will be difficult to achieve without a plentiful supply of affordable homes, and advances in sustainability will suffer.

Image credit: Helensview Homes

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