The recycling of older homes by restoring them for new use is an intrinsically green strategy which serves to reduce both demolition debris in our landfills and the unnecessary use of raw materials. An added benefit is the reduction in cost to the eventual homeowner that results from employing existing structures as opposed to new building stock. The development of an entire neighborhood based upon this model, with homes made available to families of below median income, is a tremendous innovation that serves the ideals of both environmental and social consciousness. By applying the green building standards and third-party verification offered by the System Vision and NC HealthyBuilt Homes Programs to the community model already under development by Builders of Hope, this collaborative project will illustrate a new process for neighborhood development in our state that is economically viable, environmentally responsible, and socially just.

The collaboration of Builders of Hope with the NC Solar Center in the development of an environmentally sustainable neighborhood offers a unique opportunity to use a range of green construction technologies, applied both to individual buildings and to the community infrastructure, on an innovative project involving the recycling of older homes into new, affordable housing. In doing so, the project will develop a new business model for neighborhood development that provides an environmentally conscious and resource efficient model that can be successfully applied throughout North Carolina and potentially the southeastern US. The individual homes will serve as a collective platform for the application of a comprehensive list of green building strategies designed to limit resource consumption, protect the land and provide healthy, durable structures for families of below median income. The creative, economically and socially conscious development practices already applied by Builders of Hope, involving the relocation and reuse of existing homes destined for our landfills, will be combined with the green building strategies which underlie the NC HealthyBuilt Homes and System Vision programs to create an innovative approach to sustainable community design that can be successfully replicated.

Green building in the residential sector is receiving a higher public profile as a result of increased attention to issues such as global warming, rising energy prices, and indoor air quality issues in the current housing stock. In addition to our partner programs, a number of residential green building programs are currently promoted by sponsors including the National Association of Home Builders and its local affiliates, the US Green Building Council, and others. Individual homes and entire new developments have benefited from more responsible application of sustainable design and construction. However, we believe that the unique nature of our whole house recycling methods, when combined rigorously with the integrated approach counseled by our green building partners, represents an entirely new green development model with tremendous potential for non-profit and commercial application.

Program Purpose: to build homes that create healthy indoor environments while reducing our environmental impact in an affordable housing market.  To show a correlation between green building practices and improvement in health for the families that live there.  To ensure that the homes are not only affordable to buy but affordable to live in.

Program Goals:   to incorporate green building practices that will increase energy efficiency, reduce waste, improve indoor air quality, and reduce water usage.  Go beyond “green” by integrating products and technology that create a safer, healthier environment.  Educate homeowners on routine maintenance and usage of systems and encourage homeowners to embrace a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle.     

Program Implementation:

Phase 1:

• This phase will include five homes as a test pilot.
• Implement SystemVision Program
• Implement NC HealthyBuilt Home Program
• Follow guidelines that fulfill the NCHH guidelines
• Evaluate home owner efficiencies and affordability

Phase 2:

• Revise Program to meet affordability and efficiency standards if necessary
• Implement Programs in Builders of Hope’s Green Hope Village Communities

Currently, the model we are implementing includes a team based approach to all areas of expertise. These areas include: Donations, House Moving, Green Building Programs, On-site Construction, Grounds and Outside Maintenance. Each team manages their portion of the process efficiently, utilizing a “team lead” management style where all members contribute to the operational decisions that need to be made at each site. Without top-down management these teams are able to function more efficiently and have ownership for their area of contribution to the model. All team leads are hands-on members and an integral part of the on-site work being accomplished.

Overall Green Building Team Responsibilities

Recommend and coordinate comprehensive set of sustainable development and construction strategies involving site treatment, energy, water and material efficiency, healthy indoor air quality and long term affordability and durability.

Oversee application of green building strategies to comply with standards of the following programs:

• SystemVision
• N.C. HealthyBuilt Homes
• National Center for Healthy Housing guidelines

Site Prep Team Responsibilities

House Donation Team Responsibilities

On Site Construction Team Responsibilities

All remaining work is broken out into two teams:

1) Licensed work and exterior plans including: plumbers, electricians, HVAC, landscaping

2) Interior detail work: including paint and trim, cabinetry, flooring, lighting

House Moving Team Responsibilities

Summary

The anticipated results of this project are to change significantly the face of affordable housing development in North Carolina, and eventually the Southeast. Our business model seeks to provide housing for teachers, nurses, government employees, military personnel, single parents and other citizens who typically earn sub-median wages. These groups are professional, working class North Carolinians who often face tremendous barriers to home ownership because the only affordable housing available to them is in dangerous neighborhoods with unhealthy, unsafe housing. With the median price of homes in major cities well over $250,000, these families are forced into rental situations or pushed outside the city limits where they are forced to expend meager incomes on long commutes that create environmental concerns. By accepting donated homes and selling them at cost, we are providing these families with an opportunity for home ownership that would not have existed otherwise. Additionally, we are gifting equity for future financial security and providing benefits including computers and wireless access for each family, donated/recycled cars for those in need of transportation and liaisons with healthcare options for working adults. Support teams will be in place for each community to provide “Living Green” education, handy-man services, lawn maintenance and financial literacy education. Furthermore, the chronically unemployed and at-risk youth that participate in our work-mentor programs will reintegrate into society as skilled, contributing members of the workforce.

This innovative, whole-life community model is exemplary in that it stimulates the potential of the working class to achieve home ownership, wealth accumulation and stability for their future generations. The environmental impact of our Green Building component, however, which involves saving millions of pounds of construction debris from landfills and establishing an innovative new stock of healthy, resource efficient housing, represents one of the extraordinary results of our envisioned model. In the process of fostering the increased implementation of new, green, energy-efficient standards in residential construction, this program - when replicated and developed for unique local conditions – also envisions the training and application of a labor force of homeless citizens and at-risk youth from communities across the state to rehabilitate the unwanted and functionally obsolete homes in their cities. We believe that this model will significantly influence the rewriting of state if not national standards for responsible building and community development. Our program benefits the environment, individual lower income families and unproductive members of society (through work mentoring programs), and promotes new standards for healthy housing across all markets.

By developing innovative communities for our residents, establishing unique work environments for our employees and by utilizing our existing resources responsibly, we can impact the world around us one life at a time.