NHC and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation hosted Partners in Innovation: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing Through Energy Conservation today in Boston focused on highlighting strategies in the Northeast region for preserving green rental homes for families and individuals. At the event, leaders in the housing field and related industries shared regional best practices in green rental housing preservation and explored ways to better support this work through innovative partnerships, policy development, and legislative reform.
The forum featured an in-depth plenary discussion that touched on five key points including: 1) how best to integrate principles for making rental homes healthier and more energy-efficient in light of tight budgets; 2) appropriate energy-efficient performance standards for multi-family properties; 3) return on investment for green improvements; 4) ways to encourage greener preservation practices in the region; and 5) emerging trends in this ever-changing field.
The event also included two sets of interactive breakout sessions with panel discussions that focused on a number of topics – such as how to best educate tenants on the benefits of green housing and ways to fund energy-efficiency upgrades.
This Partners in Innovation event presented an outstanding line-up of keynote and featured speakers including:
- Gregory Bialecki, secretary of the State of Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development;
- Tina Brooks, undersecretary for the State of Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development;
- Vincent O’Donnell, vice president of preservation at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation; and
- Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green USA.
Designed to build on the MacArthur Foundation’s Window of Opportunity Initiative – a $150 million commitment to preserving America’s affordable stock of rental homes – this event marks the first in a series of three Partners in Innovation regional forums being hosted by NHC and the MacArthur Foundation. Additional forums are scheduled for Portland, OR and Denver, CO. The forums seek to expand upon the work of nonprofit and government organizations in 12 states and cities that received a total of $32.5 million in grants and low-cost loans from the MacArthur Foundation last year to help preserve more than 70,000 rental homes.