Sustainability Grants for Green Affordable Housing Projects

Posted by on June 27, 2011

Enterprise Green Communities Offers Charrette and Sustainability Grants for Green Affordable Housing Projects
Deadline: Open

An initiative of Enterprise Community Partners, Enterprise Green Communities provides funds and expertise to enable affordable housing developers to build and rehabilitate homes that are healthier, more energy efficient, and better for the environment.

In addition to loans and other funding options, Green Communities offers Charrette and Sustainability grants to help cover the costs of planning and implementing green components of affordable housing developments, as well as tracking their costs and benefits.

Charrette grants provide up to $5,000 per project for affordable housing developers to engage in integrative design. A Green Communities charrette involves an intense working session that brings together a diverse group of housing development professionals as well as residents, technical experts, funders, policy makers, and community stakeholders to integrate sustainable green design principles into affordable housing developments. By supporting charrettes at the schematic design phase, Enterprise seeks to help developers establish green goals as early as possible so that the most cost-effective green strategies can be incorporated in the building and site plans. Projects applying for pre-development charrette funds must be in the early stages of planning or schematic design phase of development.

Sustainability Training grants (post-construction) of up to $5,000 each are provided for affordable housing developers to maximize the health, economic, and environmental benefits of green development throughout a project’s life cycle. The grant program provides an opportunity to transfer the design knowledge that informed the Green Communities planning and construction process to residents as well as operations and management staff. Funding may be used to cover the cost of implementing a training program and related tools that support green resident engagement and operations. Projects must have completed construction at the time of application and be occupied prior to the grant award.

For both programs, eligible applicants are nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations, tribally designated housing entities, and for-profit entities participating through joint ventures with qualified organizations.

Visit the Green Communities Web site for complete program information, project eligibility guidelines, and application procedures.

http://www.greencommunitiesonline.org/tools/funding/grants/