green = practical

[caption id="attachment_1649" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Fern Hill Terrace Apartments"][/caption] Mike and I met with a non-profit housing developer recently who indicated that one of their funders said that we should really stop talking about green building and sustainability. Their opinion was that what we are really talking about is taking a practical approach to design - focusing on reducing energy consumption, lower operations and maintenance costs.

Wow! What a refreshing change to have enlightened funders (who have historically been concerned about bottom line returns and building more with less) who truly get the triple bottom line with respect to affordable housing. By expecting affordable housing projects to be environmentally sustainable, WA state funders are acknowledging the social equity of providing healthy homes for low income families and seniors, but also the economic benefit to housing operators, and reduced energy consumption for low income tenants.

[caption id="attachment_1654" align="alignleft" width="700" caption="Typical Unit Kitchen"][/caption]

Fern Hill Terrace is a project that recently completed construction for the Multi-Service Center and Shelter Resources, Inc. It is a rehabilitation of an existing low income housing property. There are 24 family units in this project located in Tacoma, WA. Due to funding from the state, the project was required to satisfy the Evergreen Sustainable Development Standards - not only for the renovation but also for the 600sf of new construction. The great thing about the project was not only that we were able re-use the existing buildings (the best move we could have made from a sustainability standpoint), but that the residents of this apartment community were not displaced during construction. The construction occurred in a phases such that 4-6 units were renovated at a time. Sure, the residents had to move out of their units as they were being renovated, but they simply moved into another unit within the complex...which allowed them to maintain the same bus routes, driving routes, and daily schedule. For some seniors and families, this was a big deal - they shared that with me during the open house. And they were able to move back into units that were like new - new cabinets, flooring, doors, windows. The energy efficiency is dramatically improved, the indoor air quality significantly improved, and radiant heating elevated above the window to eliminate the fire hazard of the previous electric baseboards. Not to mention the improved laundry facilities, community room, low impact landscaping, and new kids playground.

Schemata Workshop is proud to serve low and moderate income families and seniors in Washington state by designing safe and decent homes - you can call them green, we call them practical.

Affordable Cohousing

[caption id="attachment_675" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Petaluma Avenue Homes"][/caption] A couple of weeks ago, Mike and I had the pleasure of presenting at the 2010 Housing Washington Conference.  This is an annual conference for the 700-800 movers and shakers in Washington State's affordable housing industry.  The keynote speakers* all spoke about the need for a new paradigm in home ownership - that perhaps it's not possible/sustainable for everyone to aspire to that particular American Dream.   As a homeowner who was caught in the unfortunate bubble burst (trying to sell as the bottom of the housing market started to fall out 3 years ago), it's understandable why top financial forecasters might say this.  But for those who have not yet attained that American Dream so experience the trials/tribulations it can bring, it seems unfair for someone else to pull up the drawbridge before they can even step foot into their castle.

So I don't know if it was this new attitude, or the nation's desire to return to a new "normal" where community is at the heart of what matters...but our presentation on Affordable Cohousing garnered a lot of attention compared to last year when I presented the same topic at the 2009 Housing Washington conference in Spokane.

Mike gave an overview of cohousing and I shared about 6 examples of built communities that were able to incorporate affordable units into their projects using inclusionary zoning, incentive zoning, HUD HOME funds, and Community Land Trusts.  One featured project that received a significant amount of interested was an affordable rental community- Petaluma Avenue Homes, developed by Affordable Housing Associates in Sebastapol, CA.  This 45-unit community is rented to individuals of 30-60% AMI and was designed by McCamant & Durrett Architects - the pioneers of Cohousing who coined the term and adapted/introduced the concept to North America. 

[caption id="attachment_676" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Petaluma Ave Homes Common House"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_680" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Silver Sage Senior Cohousing, Boulder, CO"][/caption]

Other examples were:

Elderspirit - a senior cohousing project in Abingdon, VA with 16 affordable rental units and 13 home ownership units;

Pacifica in Carrboro, NC with 7 affordable units made possible through incentive zoning and purchased to low income families via a community land trust;

Frog Song in Cotati, CA made possible by inclusionary zoning; and

Silver Sage - a senior cohousing community in Boulder, CA that is part of a larger master planned redevelopment called Holiday Park.

Our presentation is available for download from the conference website.  http://www.wshfc.org/conf/presentations/T8CohousingGraceKimMikeMariano.pdf

We welcome your questions and comments on the presentation.  And if you know of additional examples, would love to hear about those as well.

*Keynote speakers were Nicolas Retsinas (Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University) and Bruce Katz (Brookings Institute).

Capitol Hill Building Analysis Examples 11 and 12

Well, here we are, at the end of this particular folly. With clouds a gatherin', and temperature droppin', venturing forth into the grays of our winter to document the building facades of our lovely neighborhood seems unlikely, at least until the spring thaw. This has been a great diversion, and was helpful for me to not only better understand our neighborhood, but understand why the buildings documented give me pleasure. I hope the few that have followed have profited as well. Until sunny skies return, I will delve into the inner world  . . . .

All Images and Text Copyright Schemata Wrokshop Inc 2010

What does affordable housing look like?

[caption id="attachment_541" align="aligncenter" width="700" caption="Petaluma Avenue Homes"][/caption] When I was in architecture school at Washington State University, architect Michael Pyatok came to do a lecture on affordable housing and mentioned that he had experienced comments in public hearings that his proposed project "didn't look like affordable housing" - and this was perceived as a bad thing by the commenter.  That's a poor reflection on our society - when design for poor people (the people who have the least means and face the most social inequity) should be inferior.  Luckily that was almost 20 years ago and a lot has changed in the arena of affordable housing.

I'm proud to be a participant in Washington State's affordable housing industry during a period of time when HUD is making significant structural changes through it's Sustainable Communities Initiative.  Finally, the silos of our federal government are being dismantled to recognize the synergies between housing, the environment, and transportation systems.  And the possibility for education and food (nutrition) to be added to that mix is even more revolutionary (for government, not reality).

Washington State is home/host to an amazing annual conference called Housing Washington.  It brings together 700-800 people that work to create and manage affordable housing in the state - bankers, developers, social service providers, housing authorities, attorneys, government entities, and of course a handful of architects. (I'm sure I missed someone in there).  http://www.wshfc.org/conf/

And cohousing can be a part of that solution.  As a board member for the Cohousing Association of the United States, I have been chairing the Affordable Cohousing Task Group.  We are developing/implementing an advocacy plan that will reach out to allied organizations and policy makers to share how cohousing can be a solution to creating healthy mixed-income neighborhoods that provide moderate income families with positive role models for achieving financial independence. 

The photo pictured above is a Petaluma Avenue Homes, a 45 unit cohousing-inspired community developed by Affordable Housing Associates in Sebastapol, CA.  The rental community was designed by McCamant & Durrett Architects - the architects who coined the term cohousing and introduced cohousing to North America after extensively researching it Denmark.  Petaluma Avenue Homes is a great example of how cohousing principles can inform the physical design to be an armature for building community.  It doesn't hurt that the architects convinced the developer to provide funding for a community facilitator to help develop community norms and structure during the first 2 years of occupancy. 

This will be one of many examples Mike and I will share during our presentation tomorrow at the 2010 Housing Washington Conference entitled Affordable Cohousing - Making it Work for Low Income Families.  Please come by and say hi!  To see what other sessions are being offered, visit http://www.wshfc.org/conf/HW2010.Glance.pdf.

Bakhita Gardens - Affordable Housing in Belltown

[caption id="attachment_424" align="alignleft" width="700" caption="Sunshades at Bakhita Gardens "][/caption] The Housing Development Consortium organized a tour of Bakhita Gardens at 2^nd & Bell.  The project was designed by our friends at Environmental Works and accommodates two transitional housing programs for homeless women.  The project was well planned – with ingenuity and creativity to provide daylight common spaces and a strong sense of community while still providing security and supervision.  The sun-shading seemed to be effective given that the building had no air conditioning even in the common areas.  And the material selection was durable, dignified, and beautiful.  I appreciate living in a city and state where affordable housing is funded to the level it is and that there is a community of skilled architects who create a high caliber of projects.  Contractor was Walsh Construction, Catholic Housing Services was development consultant, and Swenson Say Faget provided structural engineering.

Schemata Workshop has been a member of the Housing Development Consortium (HDC) for a few years and we appreciate the tours and educational programs they sponsor as a way to keep abreast of what's happening in the affordable housing community.  Another resource we have appreciated in that regard is the Housing Washington conference that occurs each fall (Oct 19-20, 2010).  This annual conference draws 700-800 attendees from across the state (as well as a handful of out-of-staters who want to learn from what we are doing here) - ranging from housing authorities, non-profit developers, bankers, contractors, social service providers, property/asset  management companies, tax credit syndicates, and architects.  Mike and I will be doing a presentation at this year's conference (Tuesday 1:30) entitled Affordable Cohousing: Making it Work for Low-Income Families.