Enterprise’s Updated 2011 Green Communities Criteria: Raising the Bar Again for Affordable Housing Developers

By Caitlin Jones
March 11, 2011 1 min read

By Trisha Miller, Director, Enterprise Green Communities

Tax Credit Advisor, March 2011: Evolution is critical to the success of any creative endeavor. Since 2004, Enterprise has partnered with leading affordable housing organizations and green building experts to deliver cost-effective green development strategies and move the market.

At the beginning of this journey, we created the first national green affordable housing standard – the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria – with the goal of making “green” and “affordable” compatible terms in the developer’s lexicon. Developers not only responded to the Criteria; many embraced it as their new operating system. In the first six years, more than 17,000 green affordable housing units have been constructed or rehabilitated to meet the Criteria. During this period, evidence has mounted that by producing and preserving green affordable housing to above-code green building standards, we can reduce transportation costs, support healthier children and adults, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Leveraging NMTC and GGRF

A Synergistic Approach to Community Development

Jennifer Kirkley & Regan St. Pierre • September 13, 2024 6 min read

Increasingly, climate solutions are central to preserving and creating wealth and well-being in communities across the country.

What Can Be Done About Insurance?

NH&RA Panelists Explore Ways to Rein in High Insurance Costs for Affordable Housing

Pamela Martineau • September 1, 2024 6 min read

Meet with your underwriter in person, provide as much data as possible on relevant inspections and offer photos of improvements you’ve made to affordable housing properties. These were just a few of the tips offered at the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association’s Summer Institute Panel: “What Can Be Done About Insurance?”

Rainbow Housing: Transforming Resident Services from Within

Abram Mamet • September 1, 2024 9 min read

For most organizations, radical shifts in market strategy and company makeup generally come after crises. For Rainbow Housing Assistance Corporation (Rainbow), that radical shift came not as a result of significant challenges, but as a way to leverage successful internal practices to better serve the affordable housing industry.