Minnesota Green Communities Celebrates 5 Years of Green Affordable Housing
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Minnesota Green Communities began in 2005 as a partnership between Enterprise, Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, and the Family Housing Fund, designed to foster the creation of affordable, healthier, and more energy efficient housing throughout Minnesota. The initiative supports the production of affordable housing with markedly reduced energy costs, use of materials beneficial to the environment, conservation-minded land use planning, and attention to the creation of healthy environments and lifestyles for individuals, children, families, and communities.
Today Minnesota Green Communities is the largest green building program in Minnesota, with approximately 1,000 units completed, 1,000 under construction, and another 1,000 under development. This equates to the creation of nearly 3,000 energy efficient, healthy, affordable homes for individuals and families throughout Minnesota. Minnesota Green Communities' efforts are reducing emissions of climate changing gases. When all the funded projects supported through 2008 are built, the reduction in emissions will be almost five million fewer pounds of CO2 released each year, the equivalent of the CO2 footprint of 90 to 100 average Minnesota households.
Minnesota Green Communities focus for 2010 is facilitating the green retrofit of existing affordable housing in Minnesota. We're continuing our work on education, providing technical assistance to developers, and supporting Minnesota Housing in reviews. Receiving the Upstream Health Leadership Award from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Minnesota was a highlight of the year to date; and the year has just begun.
Overview Minnesota Green Communities of Projects (PDF, 4MB)
Visit the Minnesota Green Communities website for more information.
