New Study Shatters Myths About Green Consumers

Conventional wisdom has been that the environment is the top concern of green consumers, but according to a new national study, it’s actually the economy. The study, conducted by a Knoxville, Tennessee firm Shelton Group, polled 1,007 U.S. consumers who at least occasionally buy green products. The group says the results shatters six stereotypes commonly held about what motivates consumers to buy green.

One myth debunked by the study: Green consumers’ top concern is the environment. However, 59 percent of those polled identified the economy as their number one concern, with the environment trailing far behind at 8 percent. In addition, more than 73 percent chose to reduce their energy consumption to lower their bills rather than "save the planet."

In the affordable housing industry, this confirms the importance of building green homes in the current economic environment. The study also has implications for how those green homes are marketed to buyers. While a home’s LEED certification or use of earth friendly building materials are very important, touting the cost savings of owning a green home might be a stronger hook for some homebuyers.

This does not mean that efforts to educate the public on the environment should be abandoned. In fact the study found that individuals who were knowledgeable about environmental issues do tend to participate in a significantly higher average number of green activities.

However, among those 25-34 years old, this knowledge did not always lead to eco-conscious behavior, such as conserving electricity or buying energy efficient products for the home. This suggests that perhaps better targeted messages might lead to more people buying and living green.

Read more about the Six Myths of Green Consumers in EcoHome Magazine.

Four Years After Katrina, a Sustainable Homes Partnership in New Orleans Makes Progress

Four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and Gulf Coast communities, Brad Pitt's Make It Right and NeighborWorks America are partnering on sustainable home rebuilding and homeownership education in The Lower Ninth Ward.

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Moved Houses Become Happy Homes in Oregon

The Gazette Times reports that Willamette Neighborhood Housing moved a couple houses after buying the land on which they stood and where the organization planned to build a multi-family housing project. Instead of demolishing them, they decided to move them to a plot of land that the nonprofit owns on Southwest Leonard Street, where they became part of the Community Land Trust Program. The point of the land trust is to sell the houses to low-income first-time homebuyers for about half the usual cost of a house in Corvallis.

The total costs for the moving and rehabilitation of both homes totaled $279,996, which was largely financed by the City of Corvallis, as well as Community Frameworks and Neighborworks America. http://tiny.cc/R9eio






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Remembering Senator Kennedy

IN MEMORY OF SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY
From Chris Harper-Fahey, NeighborWorks America, New England District

Always concerned about those less fortunate, Senator Kennedy and the Kennedy name was iconic in Massachusetts. As a young girl, I was often moved by President John Kennedy’s call to public service and Robert’s concern about the poor and I was inspired by the youngest of the three Kennedys, "Teddy" and that he cared about working families in Massachusetts. But it wasn’t until I was an adult raising a family as a single mom, that I really started to pay attention to Senator Ted Kennedy’s social purpose and legislative vision: health care, equality, immigration reform, social justice, and his call to public service just to name a few. He inspired me to pursue a path in public service and social justice and to fight for those less fortunate. But it wasn’t until I heard the Senator’s eulogy for his brother Bobby Kennedy, that I understood my heart’s call. I eventually found that affordable housing was my call. Today, in memory of Senator Edward "Teddy" Kennedy, I share this with you, changing it only to reflect my view of his life’s work, his belief’s and today, his call to us.

"Ted Kennedy need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, but to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him, and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will someday come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: 'Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?" Ted Kennedy dreamt of things that never were and say, "Why not?"

Marietta on CBS News: Unemployment Fueling Foreclosures

NeighborWorks America Homeownership Director Marietta Rodriquez, told CBS Evening News that rising unemployment is leading to more housing foreclosures. She said recent reports from foreclosure counselors indicate that 50 percent of the time job loss is the stated reason for mortgage delinquency.

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