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District of Columbia
Critics Seek More Emphasis on Affordable Housing in New LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating
Having focused its increasingly successful Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating on carbon footprint reduction, reports Washington Business Journal Vandana Sinha, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is now testing a version drafted specially for neighborhood development, LEED-ND, whose 106 possible points for a project include four for affordable housing -- two for rental and two for ownership dwellings -- a total some experts consider a sorely inadequate incentive for builders' to pay slightly higher green construction costs despite lower returns from affordable units.
According to a recent study by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based New Ecology Inc., green affordable housing costs builders almost three percent more, going up to nine percent on some projects.
With the Washington region's average median income of $57,756, the writer notes, a family able to spend up to 30 percent of its income on housing could afford a monthly rent or mortgage of no more than $1,443.90.
But those under the poverty line -- income of $20,444 a year -- could afford only $511.10 a month.
''You're going to look at (LEED-ND), and by the time you're done, you're going to say, 'I've got to be market rate or I'm not going to make any money off of it,'' said Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association board member Michael Bell, who owns a D.C. green development and consulting firm, The Bell Co. ''In this market, it's difficult to do affordable housing. And the reality in this market is that the cost of doing that will be added on to the market-rate units.''
All this worries some green development advocates.
They would like the USGBC to make affordable housing a LEED-ND prerequisite or at least give builders more points for its inclusion, the writer reports, quoting Kansas City, Missouri-based HNTB Corp. principal landscape architect in the D.C. office, Marita Roos.
''Personally, I think we're pushing forward with a two-tiered system: people who can afford to be sustainable and people who can't,'' she cautioned. ''I think it's time for LEED to step back and reconsider its mission. I don't think we want charges that only certain people can afford to be green.''
Urban Land Institute senior fellow for housing John McIlwain pointed out that the search for affordability has been contributing to sprawl.
''What we have now is people driving further and further out from their jobs because that's what's affordable,'' he observed. ''That's forcing the increase in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), so what we have to do is reverse that.''
That's what the USGBC is aiming for, said LEED-ND core committee member Daniel Hernandez, planning director for New York-based Jonathan Rose Cos., stressing the importance of transit-oriented development and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods.
''There's a clear link for people between climate change and those land-use patterns,'' the told the writer.
Not seeing many complaints that four points for affordable housing won't be enough, he noted that the new rating offers only single points for wastewater management, bicycle networks, wetland restoration and community outreach, and added, ''The whole program was to provide a menu of things that people can do to provide great neighborhoods that are sustainable.''
With the LEED-ND rating tested on 238 pilot projects in North America, China and Korea, including 19 in the D.C. region, USGBC members will vote on a final set of the system's standards next year.
''It's important to look at sustainability holistically, and LEED for neighborhood development achieves that by looking at more than just building design,'' said D.C.-based CityInterests LLC development manager Todd Lieberman, whose firm spearheaded the mixed-use Parkside LEED-ND pilot project, with 20 percent of units marked as affordable. ''It looks at affordability and location and neighborhood design, and these are all very important components of how green your site is.'' -- Washington Business Journal 5/26/2008
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