An Evaluation of Green Housing Rehabilitation in Minnesota
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This 3-year project, begun in 2006 and funded through grants from the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Foundation of Minnesota, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Enterprise Community Partners will demonstrate practical measures to reduce health hazards during the substantial rehabilitation of affordable housing using the Green Communities criteria. These renovations are expected to reduce the number of children being exposed to indoor air pollutants and reduce the number of families exposed to asthma triggers.
The initiative builds on an existing initiative (Enterprise Community Partners' Minnesota Green Communities) to implement Green Building Design criteria in 60 apartment units located in the rural community of Worthington,MN. The project included substantial rehabilitation inside and outside the building, installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system and other features. This project will evaluate the residents' health outcomes of the Green Communities Criteria and emphasize important training, public education services and best practices, including:
• High efficiency geo-thermal heating and cooling system.
• Enhanced insulation of the building envelope.
• Energy Star appliances.
• Energy-efficient lighting and occupancy sensor controls.
• Water conserving appliances and fixtures.
• Improved ventilation, including continuous ventilation of bathrooms and fresh air.
• Low-VOC paints, sealants, and adhesives.
• Interior finish materials using recycled content.
• On-site recycling of demolition and construction materials.
The project will 1) Develop products and tools to support the demonstration project and to publicize the knowledge gained from it; 2) Deliver training and education to residents and those involved in developing and maintaining affordable housing to promote green and healthy building and to aid program implementation; 3) Disseminate information via national outreach to promote green and healthy building through Enterprise's Green Communities initiative and other green building programs; 4) Result in a longitudinal evaluation of how building green and healthy affects the health status of adults and children who reside in homes that have recently been renovated to green and healthy standards by determining residents' health status using a combination of air quality measures, interviews, and visual assessments. Health status measures include residents' self-reports of health and well-being, asthma and other respiratory effects, injuries, allergies, neurological effects (e.g. headaches), mental health, and overall perception of health status, using standardized qualitative and quantitive measures
NCHH's partners in the project include Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership, the University of Minnesota's Center for Sustainable Building Research, Minnesota Green Communities, the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, the Family Housing Fund, Enterprise Community Partners, and Enterprise Social Investment Corporation.
The first phase of the evaluation began in November 2006.
Click here to view photos from the November kickoff event [pdf 4 MG].
The National Center for Healthy Housing, 10320 Little Patuxent Parkway, Suite 500 Columbia, MD 21044
410.992.0712 / Fax: 443.539.4150
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