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Building support for 'green' housing
Grants aid affordable, energy-efficient units

Officials gathered amid solar panels on a Maverick Landing roof after yesterday's Green Communities Initiative launch. (Globe Staff Photo Pat Greenhouse)

Boston Globe
By Russell Nichols
Globe Correspondent
July 8, 2005

At first glance, the new Maverick Landing public housing development in East Boston is impressive, with neat rows of brick buildings within walking distance of Boston Harbor. But there is nothing noticeably ''green" about the townhouse-style structures, until you spot the solar panels on the roofs.

Maverick Landing is a development full of energy-efficient homes, which boast low-flow toilets, broad fiberglass windows that draw in more natural light, construction materials made of recycled wood, wind-powered generators, and Energy Star appliances.

Yesterday, the housing development served as the backdrop for state officials unveiling the Massachusetts Green Communities Initiative, a multimillion-dollar collaborative effort designed to encourage more affordable and energy-efficient public housing.

The new program brings together three organizations -- the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and the Enterprise Foundation -- to provide about $209 million in incentives, including loans, grants, and tax credits, for developers to build 1,000 ''green" homes for low-income families across the state.

''If you want to stop talking about it and start doing it, you got to bring the money to the table," said Tom Gleason, executive director of MassHousing, an independent agency working to create and preserve affordable housing in the state. It will provide $125 million in mortgage financing to the project.

Massachusetts Green Communities is part of the National Green Communities Initiative, a five-year, $555 million effort to build more than 8,500 affordable, environment-friendly homes nationwide.

While Maverick Landing, which opened in January, was built before the Green Communities Initiative was launched, state officials said it does represent a prototype for public housing developments in the future.

Construction costs per unit will be slightly higher, depending on the project, but the homes built through the initiative could use 25 percent to 50 percent less electricity, according to Robert L. Pratt, director of the Renewable Energy Trust. As part of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Renewable Energy will provide $8.5 million in grants.

Greg Spier, a former president of the Homebuilders Association of Massachusetts, said the initiative represents a step in the right direction. ''There's such a crisis with housing in the state right now," he said. ''Anything that will increase our housing supply is a great thing."

Andres Otero, 43, had lived in the former Maverick Gardens housing development for almost 19 years before moving across the street into Maverick Landing. He said his former development was infested with crime and critters.

''It was a mess. It had to come down," he said. ''We even had bed bugs."

When he moved into Maverick Landing six months ago, he noticed some changes. The crime fizzled out, he said, and the critters found other kitchens to infest. While Otero said the ''green" aspects of his new home don't stand out, he has noticed that saving energy appears to be costing him an extra $40 a month.

''In the old place, we always had heat and electricity and we didn't have to pay. Now we have to pay," he said. ''If we have the solar panels, it should be free."

Jennifer Pizarro, a Boston Housing Authority administrative assistant, said Maverick Landing residents are paying a utility allowance, but officials also lowered the rent to make up the difference.

No specific sites have been selected for developments to be built under the Green Communities Initiative, said Chris Kealey, spokesman for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. A meeting is scheduled for later this month to discuss future projects and marketing plans, Kealey said.

Wherever they are built, the new ''green" housing developments will be situated close to public transportation, to help address traffic and pollution concerns, officials said. Cutting down on automobile exhaust may also help reduce the rate of diseases that plague many traditional public housing developments.

The agencies in the collaborative hope their resources will give developers the financial leeway to explore ''green" building techniques, Gleason said. Without the incentives, it might have been difficult to get developers on board, the MassHousing chief said.

''We thought green and affordable were at odds with each other," said Bart Harvey III, head of the Enterprise Foundation, which is to provide $75 million in private equity from the sale of low-income housing tax credits.

© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.