Solar Photo-Voltaic Works for Affordable Housing

By Michelle Winters

Senior Manager, Green Strategies
NeighborWorks America

Today NeighborWorks America's new CEO Eileen Fitzgerald is in San Diego to celebrate the ribbon cutting for a new solar installation on the Las Serenas apartments, owned by NeighborWorks network member Community HousingWorks. Community HousingWorks is well-known for its award winning Solara new construction apartments built in 2007. That project was the first apartment community to be fully powered by the sun, and it also includes many other community-friendly green features such as a Learning Center with a full Green Curriculum for residents and their children.

Now, Community HousingWorks, with funding from the state of California and NeighborWorks America, has continued its solar innovation with one of its existing properties in San Diego, Las Serenas apartments. The project was the first project funded through the California Center for Sustainable Energy's Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) Track 2 program, which reserves funding for projects that include expanded tenant benefits like those provided by Community HousingWorks. In this project, they used a approach called Virtual Net Metering to ensure that tenants receive the benefits of the solar system, rather than having all benefits go to the property owner. The project is also benefiting residents by connecting them to job training related to the solar installation and ongoing maintenance of the systems.

NeighborWorks is proud to have funded "green" renovations to Las Serenas as part of last year's $35 million Capitol Funds for the Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing grants for NeighborWorks network members.

NeighborWorks America Kicks Off National Homeownership Month

Today NeighborWorks America kicked off National Homeownership Month by announcing a series of activities that will highlight the important role that informed, prepared and engaged residents play in healthy communities through long-term, affordable homeownership.

“For more than 30 years, NeighborWorks America and its network of affiliates around the country have supported and encouraged affordable and long-term homeownership,” said Eileen Fitzgerald, Acting CEO of NeighborWorks America. “From providing homeownership tips and urging homeowners facing foreclosure to talk to the right people, to strengthening communities through NeighborWorks Week and NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Centers, throughout National Homeownership Month we are working to get good information in the hands of potential homebuyers and current homeowners so they can achieve and sustain homeownership.”

NeighborWorks America activities during Homeownership Month include:

• NeighborWorks Week (June 4-11, 2011): Every year during NeighborWorks Week – the first week in June – NeighborWorks America and the NeighborWorks network mobilize tens of thousands of volunteers, business leaders, neighbors, friends and local and national elected and civic leaders for a week of neighborhood change and awareness. Homes are rehabbed and repaired, properties are painted and landscaped, neighborhood tours are conducted, partnerships are recognized, and education events are held. During this week NeighborWorks America will highlight NeighborWorks Week events happening across the country on www.nw.org, the NeighborWorks News blog, NeighborWorks’ Facebook fan page and our YouTube channel.

• HomeOwnership Centers (June 13-17, 2011): NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Centers are one-stop shops for all things related to homeownership. From professional homebuyer advice and education on affordable mortgage loans, to home repair and rehab guidance and foreclosure intervention counseling, NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Centers pave the road to long-term affordable homeownership for thousands of homebuyers and homeowners each year. During this week, NeighborWorks America will highlight the services NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Centers offer and help you locate one in your community. This information will be available on www.nw.org, the NeighborWorks News blog, NeighborWorks’ Facebook fan page and our YouTube channel.

• Homebuyer Education (June 20-24, 2011): Everyday homeownership advisors work with potential homebuyers to prepare them for long-term, affordable homeownership. During this week NeighborWorks America will offer consumer tips on how to prepare for homeownership, seven steps to obtain a mortgage, and more on www.nw.org, the NeighborWorks News blog, NeighborWorks’ Facebook fan page and our YouTube channel.

• Loan Scam Alert Campaign (June 27-30, 2011): Every day homeowners facing financial difficulty fall victim to vicious scam artists. During the last week in June, NeighborWorks will remind homeowners of the signs of a loan modification scam, how to report scams and point homeowners facing foreclosure to the right people – nonprofit, HUD approved counseling agencies who offer foreclosure intervention counseling. This information will be available on www.nw.org, the NeighborWorks News blog, the Loan Scam Alert Campaign’s Facebook fan page and our YouTube channel.

When Nonprofits Expand Their Reach, Governance Issues Deserve Attention

Chelsea Neighborhood Developers (CND) in Chelsea, Massachusetts, like many successful NeighborWorks organizations, is in the process of expanding geographically. As the expansion evolved, Executive Director Ann Houston and CND’s board of directors recognized the agency’s governance model would need to adapt.

Houston collaborated with Hilary Marcus, CND’s relationship manager at NeighborWorks America, to talk with peers and consultants while researching best practices in governance. You can see the results of their exploration in the report available on NeighborWorks' website.

CND's new governance model is still in the works. The authors note that many NeighborWorks organizations are facing expansion challenges and hope this report will spark discussion on this issue. The authors can be reached at ahouston@chelseand.org and hmarcus@nw.org.

A Shared Vision for Consumer Financial Capability

By Eileen Fitzgerald, Acting CEO, NeighborWorks America

Good partners, like NeighborWorks America and the Citi Foundation, share a common vision. We both believe in financial inclusion and economic empowerment for everyone. And we realize that while helping consumers build financial knowledge and skills is important, it doesn’t go far enough. Timely, relevant financial information needs to be coupled with ongoing coaching and access to appropriate financial products and services to help consumers convert financial knowledge into positive financial practices necessary to achieve long-term, sustainable results.   

The Citi Foundation has been a leader in championing this new financial capability approach, and NeighborWorks America has a long history of providing top-notch training to financial educators. Capitalizing on the strengths of NeighborWorks America, the Citi Foundation has made a $5 million grant to expand financial capability programs across the nation.

How will we get the job done? Quite simply by building the skills of more than 400 financial education practitioners. Equipped with the best training available in financial capability and coaching, practitioners will be better prepared to assist residents in low and moderate income communities who want to improve their financial situation. We are also strengthening and expanding the financial coaching programs of 31 best-in-class organizations across the U.S. through grants and a range of technical assistance support. 

Here is what we are setting out to achieve with the Citi Foundation: Helping people access and select safe and appropriate financial products and services and providing ongoing financial coaching that helps consumers work toward their financial goals over the course of their lives. Because results are important to us, the project will also employ new Success Measures data collection tools to measure how these financial capability programs change consumer financial attitudes, behaviors and resiliency over time. For over 15 years, we have collaborated with the Citi Foundation and are enthusiastic about this next phase of our work together. We anticipate thousands of Americans will become more skillful in managing their personal finances as a result of this dynamic partnership.  And we look forward to sharing the lessons learned across the field.

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I Bet You Don’t Know What Co-Housing Is!

Ming and Pemba Sherpa with their daughters:
Cheten and Chewang
Photo taken by Jon Shenton, marketing and communications
coordinator at Champlain Housing Trust

by Sara Varela,

Communications Specialist, Community Building and Organizing

Champlain Housing Trust (CHT), a NeighborWorks member, is located in northwestern Vermont. CHT is a community land trust that supports strong, vital communities. Here is an example of the type of work they do as reported by Julia Curry, co-op and community organizer at CHT.

"Ming and Pemba Sherpa came to Vermont from Nepal eighteen years ago, but life really changed when they discovered Champlain Housing Trust  in 2004. They were raising twin daughters, Cheten and Chewang, in a small one-bedroom apartment, so were happy to learn they could afford a spacious three-bedroom place from CHT for almost the same monthly rent as their previous place. Their long-term hope, though, was to buy a home.

They found that opportunity at East Village Co-housing in Burlington, where a community of 32 condominium owners live collaboratively. Co-housing balances the privacy of separate apartments with a commitment to interaction and sustainability.

When the Sherpa Family first looked into buying they were told they could not get the mortgage they needed, despite their good credit. Once they learned about CHT's shared equity program, though, things moved quickly. They met the requirements, got a mortgage with a bank that knows CHT’s program, and bought their townhouse less than a month later.

“There’s a lot that we like about living here,” Pemba comments. “The home is a good size and very energy-efficient. We work with other residents to grow a vegetable garden. I think it’s important that our daughters are learning where food comes from and what it takes to raise it.” “[It] feels more like life did in Nepal, because we are friends with our neighbors and do so much together. We have much more of a sense of community here and it feels safer for the girls, since we know our neighbors well,” Ming adds.

Residents of East Village cook some dinners together in the common area, meet periodically to manage the property, and get together informally in other ways. The values of sustainability and community are also evident in the location—with easy walking and bus access, to reduce car dependence—and the community’s choice to set more apartments at affordable prices than city regulations require. “Living here is sustainable and peaceful,” Pemba concludes. “It feels like family to us.”

As a demonstration of this sustainable mission, the co-housing community, the Champlain Housing Trust and the City of Burlington won the Home Depot Foundation’s 2010 Award for Excellence in Sustainable Community Development, a national award that recognizes the unique implementation of sustainability initiatives in Burlington, as exemplified by East Village Co-housing. Nine of the 32 homes at East Village are in Champlain Housing Trust’s shared equity portfolio, making them permanently affordable, and there are multiple “green” aspects of the development.

I was fascinated by the co-housing concept and thought I’d share this story here. For more information about the East Village Co-housing or to learn what co-housing is all about, click here: www.bcoho.org/index.html. This is a great way to build community!

For more information about Champlain Housing Trust visit their website: www.champlainhousingtrust.org/