Updated affordable housing standard emphasizes resilience

Enterprise Community Partners’ updated edition of the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria for affordable housing emphasizes disaster preparation, climate-resilient housing, and streamlined energy solutions.

The new version of the document puts a sharper focus on extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, and power outages. The standard now includes resilience assessments to determine properties’ vulnerability to extreme weather and power outages.

To meet the organization’s criteria, properties will be required to create an emergency manual for residents to use during disasters.

Several cities and 29 states require or incentivize publicly funded affordable housing developments to meet the criteria. Updated criteria include solutions to help developers electrify their buildings and incorporate renewable energy.

The update includes revised criteria on noise, traffic, and safety, and a new approach to green building product selection encouraging early screening and holistic assessment.

Enterprise Green Communities launched Green Communities Criteria in 2005. The previous version of the standard was released in 2020.