Background to Green Affordable Housing Program
The Green Affordable Housing Initiative aims to catalyze the affordable housing financing, development, and builder communities to include more green design and renewable energy in future developments.
The Need and the Opportunity
High home prices and dramatically rising housing costs have made the expansion and preservation of affordable housing a priority for the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is the third most expensive state in which to buy a home, and nearly one in four renters pay over one-half of their income for housing.
Rising energy costs and concerns about building conditions 
(e.g., mold, indoor air quality) that pose a risk to occupant health and building performance add to the affordable housing challenge. Finding new ways to effectively manage residential energy costs and reduce the risk of conditions that threaten residents’ health and well-being and building performance is especially important to residents and owners of properties that serve lower and moderate income households. Helping building owners respond to these risks clearly falls within MTC’s mission.
Incorporating green housing features into residential housing reduces energy costs and improves building performance. Renewable energy installations offer a reliable supply of energy at a stable cost, reducing vulnerability to fluctuating fossil fuel prices. Despite these benefits, few affordable housing projects have included green features or renewable energy generation because of the following barriers:
- A short-term cost focus, combined with per-unit price cap plus an upper overall development cost number, forces developers to minimize first costs, and not have a life-cycle view of the development.
- Financiers and developers perceive cost and time risk in new technologies and practices.
- Regulatory burdens and a rigid financing system, including low-cost bidding, restricts green innovation in AH properties, and do not recognize the long-term value of green construction.
- Uncertainty about actual performance and operating/maintenance costs, lack of documented success, and lack of data generally, compound the above barriers.
The Opportunity
The affordable housing developers, managers, and lenders believe that reliable information gathered from direct experience incorporating and using renewable energy and green housing features in affordable housing projects will help overcome these obstacles, and lead them to actively consider using these features in their future projects.
The Strategy
MTC will pursue the following approach:
- To allow key players in the affordable housing arena to develop experience with green building and renewable energy, MTC will provide financial support for additional design and construction costs of incorporating renewable energy and green housing features in affordable housing projects.
- MTC will seek to work with agencies and developers who either have direct responsibility for a significant share of the state’s affordable housing or whose initial efforts with green building and renewable energy are likely to influence other parties responsible for affordable housing.
- To ensure that Renewable Energy Trust funds provide direct benefits to a significant number of low-income residents and advance renewable energy and green design in the near term, MTC will seek to make grant awards that maximize renewable energy generation and green features connected to affordable housing and impact the largest number of affordable housing units.
- MTC will aggressively gather data on the cost and performance of the projects and will widely disseminate this information. We will combine this with information-sharing and training activities for individuals responsible for affordable housing.
CONTACT:
Elisabeth Krautscheid
Project Manager, Green Affordable Housing & Green Schools
508-870-0312 x223
krautscheid@masstech.org