Latest news with #BRIDGEHousing
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Electrifying this affordable housing complex made financial sense
Canary Media's 'Electrified Life' column shares real-world tales, tips, and insights to demystify what individuals and building owners can do to shift to clean electric power. An affordable housing complex for older adults in Sacramento, California, boasts some enticing features. Residents of the earth-toned, low-rise structures can cultivate gardens, swim laps in the pool, and toss bocce balls. They can stroll to visit neighbors. And now, after an electric transformation of the buildings, Foothill Farms residents can also enjoy the cleaner air that comes with ditching gas appliances. The project not only slashes the complex's health-harming and planet-warming pollution — it also made financial sense for both the owner BRIDGE Housing and its tenants. Two years ago, the 138-unit property's original gas-fired equipment was nearing the end of its life. Coupled with available financial support, the timing gave executives of BRIDGE, a nonprofit affordable housing developer and manager, a chance to pivot away from fossil fuels. The 'smart, opportunistic' project at Foothill Farms illustrates how properties can electrify while keeping costs low for residents, according to a case study written earlier this year by staff at the Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future, a collaborative of 13 nonprofits, including BRIDGE. The retrofit is also a trailblazer for the decarbonization journey millions more units of government-supported affordable housing will eventually need to take. Although single-family housing is by far the most prevalent in the U.S., and the biggest source of carbon pollution from homes, cutting fossil fuels from multifamily affordable housing is a particularly tricky task. Some of the most vulnerable Americans live in subsidized apartments, including low-income households with older adults, disabled individuals, young families, and veterans — and they usually rent these units. Residents typically lack the power or cash to electrify properties, which presents a hurdle to eradicating emissions from buildings and denies inhabitants the upsides of these retrofits: greater comfort, safer air, and potential bill savings. 'There's an opportunity for delivering outsized benefits to [these] residents and communities,' said Lucas Toffoli, principal of the carbon-free buildings division at clean-energy think tank RMI. In 2023, BRIDGE Housing decided Foothill Farms would be a good candidate for energy-efficiency upgrades after Bright Power, an energy services provider, and Carbon Zero Buildings, a company specializing in decarbonization retrofits, analyzed BRIDGE's entire portfolio of properties. Carbon Zero carried out the electrifying changes: The turnkey contractor swapped out polluting gas-fueled water heaters for Rheem heat-pump water heaters and replaced ACs with Samsung heat pumps capable of both warming and cooling spaces. The firm also installed LED lighting everywhere, which consumes a tenth of the energy of incandescent light bulbs. Carbon Zero's team first piloted the complete retrofit in one unit to work out the kinks. With feedback from staff and residents, the crew honed its approach so that it could complete a unit's upgrades in a single day during business hours. 'I love that,' said Toffoli, who wasn't involved in the project. 'Displacing folks is not only expensive and burdensome ... it's a real disruption to people who may be juggling a lot of things, like work and family, or who have limited mobility or health problems.' In the common areas, Carbon Zero installed a new heat-pump pool heater and heat-pump spa heater, 30 EV charging stations, and 240-volt power outlets in the laundry rooms. Foothill Farms still has gas-powered clothes dryers, but BRIDGE plans to replace them with electric dryers when they conk out. Comparing 2023 average monthly energy usage data to 10 months of data after the in-unit retrofits were completed last spring, natural-gas use has decreased by 98% while electricity use has risen 24% across the whole property, thanks in large part to the almost-magical efficiency of heat pumps. Virtually all of the project's $2.6 million cost was covered by state and utility grants: California's Low-Income Weatherization Program, TECH Clean California, and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Other projects, though, are by no means guaranteed to see so much aid, with funding limited and awards variable, said Sebastian Cohn, senior project manager at the nonprofit Association for Energy Affordability and BRIDGE's primary contact for the weatherization program incentive. 'It is typically in a property's best interest to enroll [in these incentive programs] sooner than later,' Cohn told Canary Media. 'The same project reserved today would receive less than half the [Sacramento Municipal Utility District] incentives Foothill Farms did due to updated incentive levels and per-project limits.' Unlike many landlords who don't pay tenants' utility bills, and thus don't benefit from energy-efficiency upgrades, BRIDGE actually had a financial incentive to make this switch to electric appliances: The organization pays for residents' gas usage but not their electricity bills. How then did the project prevent residents' costs from going up? Elementary, my dear reader. Federal rules for most subsidized affordable housing protect residents from high rent and utility costs — and make sure these expenses don't exceed 30% of their income — by requiring owners to provide what are called utility allowances, i.e., rent reductions to tenants paying their own utilities. The exact amounts are set by housing authorities and depend on locale, home size, and types of appliances. Based on the utility allowances for Sacramento when Carbon Zero pitched the project, the contractor estimated that residents would come out ahead, with each unit on average saving over $200 annually. The estimated savings for BRIDGE itself were $25,000 per year. The real-world results match the initial project modeling very well, Cohn said, though BRIDGE declined to share specific dollar savings. BRIDGE isn't planning to stop with this project; a spokesperson said it's already working with Carbon Zero and Bright Power on similar retrofits at a few other California properties.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New affordable housing community coming to San Diego
NOTE: The video above provides information on whether to buy or rent a home. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — San Diego city officials on Wednesday broke ground on a new affordable housing complex in the Cortez Hill neighborhood. Kindred, located at the Central District Core on Sixth Avenue, is an eight-story development that will consist of 125 affordable apartments and one manager's unit, nonprofit affordable housing owner and developer BRIDGE Housing said in a news release. 'Access to affordable housing helps children succeed in school, empowers adults to contribute to their neighborhoods, and allows seniors to age with dignity. But the cost of housing in San Diego is simply out of reach for too many individuals and families,' said BRIDGE Housing President and CEO Ken Lombard. La Jolla's proposed split from the city of San Diego moves forward The complex will feature outdoor courtyards, ground floor community areas and management offices, and approximately 4,400 square feet of commercial space. Of the 125 apartments, 62 will be one-, two- and three- bedroom apartments that are for households earning up to 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI). The other 63 one-bedroom units will be saved for formerly homeless seniors support by the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). 'Every new home we create brings us closer to the San Diego we know is possible: one where everyone has a roof over their head at a price they can afford,' said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. Other amenities in the neighborhood include public transportation, Balboa Park, museums, theaters and the San Diego Zoo. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
