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April 2010
Green and Healthy Property Management Strategies
Ellen Tohn, Tohn Environmental Strategies
Hosted by the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership
April 27, 8:30 to 4:00 p.m.
Mankato, Minnesota
Click here for more details.
Click here to register.
February 2010
Single Family Green Housing Rehab Training:
Tuesday, February 2, 2010, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Radisson Hotel and Conference Center,
Plymouth, Minnesota.
Click here for more details.
December 2009
Demonstration Project Ripley Gardens wins competitive Home Depot Foundation award. Read more here and here.
April 2009
Minnesota Green Communities and partners Enterprise
and Minnesota Housing recently commissioned a set
of Single
Family Housing (1-4 unit) Green Rehab Specifications. On April 2, Armand Magnelli led a day-long training
on the specifications.
April 2009
Lessons from early Green Communities projects are
now available. A presentation on findings of healthy
housing can be found here,
and findings on the incremental costs and benefits
can be found here (look for "Gone Green: So What?").
The Wellstone was highlighted by
funder AFL CIO-Housing Investment Trust (HIT). The
HIT financed a $4.1 million
FHA-insured construction/permanent loan under HUD’s
Section 221 (d) (4) program securitized with a GNMA
mortgage-backed security.
Minnesota Green Communities awarded $155,000 to
green projects in 2008. Minnesota Green Communities
continues to be the largest green building program
in Minnesota, with 497 units completed, 908 under
construction, and another 1,645 under development.
This year, Family Housing Fund and Greater Minnesota
Housing Fund staff reviewed 78 proposals, including
multifamily (31), single family (37), and rehabilitation
(10) proposals. This is compared with 35 proposals
last year. 30 proposals were in the metro area
(as compared with 22 in 2007), and 43 from greater
Minnesota (as compared with 13 in 2007.) Some of
the increase is a result of the new Minnesota Housing
requirement that new single family projects must
meet the Minnesota Overlay to the Green Communities
Criteria.
2008 Minnesota Green Communities grant awards include:
Southbridge
|
Northfield |
5 units |
River Rock Townhomes |
Little Falls |
23 units |
Orness Plaza Preservation |
Mankato |
101 units |
Gateway Gardens Supportive Housing |
Moorhead |
24 units |
Owatonna Supportive Housing |
Owatonna |
14 units |
Redstone Townhomes |
Pipestone |
27 units |
New Castle Townhomes |
Worthington |
21 units |
Chancellor Manor |
Burnsville |
200 units |
Creekside Commons |
Minneapolis |
30 units |
Har Mar Apartments |
Roseville |
120 units |
Feature article "It’s
Getting Easier to Be Green", Thief River
Falls Times, showcases success of Minnesota Green
Communities.
(April, 2008)Click
here to download .pdf
"A Short History of
Greenness", Minnesota Real Estate Journal (May,
2008)
Click here to download .pdf November 2007
Inclusive of both affordable and market-rate
housing, Minnesota Green Communities is now the
largest green
building program in Minnesota, with 190 units completed,
423 under construction, and another 1,223 under
development. Demonstrating the growing interest in
building and
designing green, and indicative of major policy
changes at the state level, there was a significant
increase
in the number of applications for Minnesota Green
Communities funding in 2007. In 2007, the Family
Housing Fund and Greater Minnesota Housing Fund
staff reviewed 35 proposals, 22 from the metro area
(as
compared with 11 in 2006), and 13 from greater
Minnesota (as compared with eight in 2006). The following
nine
green projects were selected for grant funding
throughout Minnesota in 2007:
| Development |
Location |
Units |
Bemidji Supportive Housing Project |
Bemidji |
20 |
Crossing at Valley View |
Bloomington |
50 |
Dakota County Youth Supportive Housing |
Eagan |
24 |
Fond du Lac Supportive Housing |
Cloquet |
24 |
Living Works Crystal Lodge II |
Crystal |
12 |
Lowry Limited Partnership |
Minneapolis |
30 |
Twin Ponds |
Farmington |
25 |
Urban Studios |
Duluth |
8 |
Youth Foyer Project |
Virginia |
15 |
Past Events
Green by Design
- May 2007
Greater Minnesota Housing Fund and the Family Housing
Fund convened the second annual statewide Minnesota
Green Communities conference on green building, Green
by Design 2007. This conference provided expert training
and education to nearly 350 (up from 200 in 2006)
housing developers, builders, architects, contractors,
city planners, policymakers, and other professionals
concerned with creating sustainable housing and communities
in Minnesota. Robert
F. Kennedy, Jr. inspired and
motivated audience members with his powerful keynote
luncheon address that was as much a call to action
as a speech. Due to a medical emergency, scheduled
health keynote speaker Xavier Bonnefoy was unable
to attend. Fortunately, Ellen Tohn of Tohn Environmental
Strategies, a national expert in housing-based environmental
threats (and a scheduled presenter for Day Two),
was able to step in for Bonnefoy, and provide a compelling
speech on the strong connections between housing
and health.
Green by Design offered a rich assortment of more
than 20 different technical and policy sessions by
local and national experts on a wide range of green
building and design topics, including energy efficiency,
stormwater management, green building products, urban
and rural design, global warming, and health and
housing. On more than a few occasions, workshop sessions
left standing room only. At the end of the workday,
many attendees stayed for a “Green Happy Hour” for
an opportunity to network with other conference participants
and staff, discuss topics of interest from the day’s
workshops, share details on plans for new housing
developments, and to get to know their colleagues
from around the state. The transit-friendly location
appealed to a number of attendees with over two dozen
arriving on bicycle, bus, or light rail. For more
session descriptions and presentations, and more
details, click
here.
Green by
Design - November 2006
Minnesota Green Communities hosted three day-long
trainings on state-of-the-art green building practices
for developers, builders, architects, policy makers,
and funders working in greater Minnesota. The trainings
focused on how to create affordable, healthy, and
energy efficient homes in sustainable communities,
highlighting the unique opportunities and challenges
of green building in greater Minnesota. Topics of
special emphasis included increasing local energy
self-reliance, healthy homes, protecting local water
quality, sustainable development planning, and natural
resource preservation.
Green by Design -
April, 2006
Minnesota Green Communities hosted a pioneering
two-day training on green building practices by local
and national experts. With rising housing and energy
costs, the interest in creating sustainable, energy-efficient
affordable housing is at a new high. The training
included detailed technical information on the Green
Communities Criteria™, and highlighted several
Minnesota-specific case studies. Additionally, Minnesota
Green Communities announced funding for another round
of demonstration projects in coordination with Minnesota
Housing's 2006 Super RFP.
Renewable
Energy: Solar and Affordable Housing – An
Event with Chris LaForge
February 2007
Minnesota Green Communities, along with LISC, Minnesota
Housing Partnership, Minneapolis Consortium of Community
Developers, and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
sponsored a workshop with solar expert Chris LaForge
of Great Northern Solar. The workshop provided an
introduction to solar uses in affordable housing,
utilizing slides of solar installations, and providing
plenty of interactive question and answer time. The
crowd was at capacity, and the project received substantial
positive feedback about the quality of the Minnesota
Green Communities’ events.
Prior to the workshop, Minnesota Green Communities
hosted a private lunch with LaForge and the development
teams from Viking Terrace and The Wellstone, two
demonstration projects with solar applications. During
lunch, teams were able to review documents and receive
expert technical assistance on their specific projects.
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