2.11 Green Affordable Housing Program with Will Norten, USGBC-LA

At certain points I think a lot of the building owners and management companies see the writing on the wall coming with policies changing not only at city level but also at state level with benchmarking, and conservation code is coming out, stretch code is coming out that they’re going to need to basically comply with within the next 10 to 20 years, next two decades. In a lifetime of a building, that’s pretty short. So they need to start investing now, and if they have free help from a local non-profit, then they are going to jump on it. So that’s kind of what our selling point has been there. But then also we are encountering a lot of building owners who do care about their tenants. USGBC-LA’s The Green Affordable Housing Program (GAHP) was developed to support all Angelenos in having healthy, efficient, and resilient places to live, work, and play. This program delivers green community resources to disadvantaged communities and historically underserved neighborhoods that are energy-inefficient or burdened with pollution sources that are hazardous to communities’ health. The GAHP provides owners and residents of multi-family properties located in the Eastern San Fernando Valley with strategies for reducing energy and water costs, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Green Affordable Housing Program provides: Tenant Workshops in English and Spanish covering sustainable practices & occupant health to help reduce utility costs; Enrollment assistance with LADWP programs and rebates; Guidance through a menu of efficiency & electrification options to facilitate building retrofits; Subsidized installation of innovative new green building technology to reduce utility costs and gas emissions;  Air and water quality monitoring provided at no-cost. Workshops for both property owners and tenants will be delivered at 20 selected multi-family properties. Participants will also receive a toolkit with resources on sustainable practices and occupant health, programs and rebates, tips on water and energy savings, building retrofit support and more!