Rethinking What is Truly Affordable Housing

Providing shelter is a good start. Nurturing wellness in all its forms is a crucial next step.

This is Sam Rashkin’s latest in a series of articles based on his second book, Housing 2.0: A Disruption Survival Guide. It is intended as a roadmap for high-performance builders to become the most successful in the industry.

Nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity Houston coordinate construction of affordable housing, as well as provide strength, stability and self-reliance in homeownership. But there’s a harder road ahead when it comes to integrating wellness in affordable housing. Credit: Courtesy Habitat for Humanity Houston

More than 2.5 million homes have earned ENERGY STAR certification. Approximately 200,000 more are expected to be certified this year. This program’s transformative impact never ceases to amaze me, especially in contrast to the huge struggle we had gaining traction with builders during my first year as national director. This article is about an experience I had at the very beginning of this extraordinary journey—one I’ll never forget. 

An early big “win” for the ENERGY STAR Certified home program a commitment by the Habitat for Humanity Houston affiliate to certify all the homes in its 1996 Blitz Build. I was honored to attend the dedication ceremony, where I wound up on stage sitting next to their iconic and reveled co-founder, Millard Fuller. As soon as we met, charisma oozed from his entire being. His profound impact on Habitat’s success was immediately obvious. 

And then came the moment when he posed a simple question to which a much smarter person would have given a much safer answer. The question: “So Sam, what did you think of the home we completed today?” The not-so-smart answer: “Very impressive—but I wondered if Habitat considered including garages?” 

If looks could kill, someone else would have authored this article. Once Millard composed himself, he slowly enunciated his emphatic reply that I am sure he had expressed many times: “Habitat for Humanity builds shelter for humans, not cars.” 

Again, a much smarter person would have simply acknowledged this organizational priority and moved on. And then there is me. I engaged. “Millard, I appreciate this policy preference. However, I understand that a family of five will be moving into the home next week and observed there are only three small closets, one for each bedroom. 

“From my experiences, low-income families, like all households, need storage for many large items. Bikes, toys, home repair tools, ladders, lawn mowers, yard tools and luggage are a few that come to mind. I’ve read that clutter is directly linked to stress, which is something low-income families already have in abundance. Moreover, a garage can significantly enhance each homeowner’s opportunity to realize greater appreciation since it is a feature commonly expected even in starter homes.” 

Of course, he had a rigorous response and would not budge from his position. I finally got smarter when he was done. I apologized for the suggestion and shared my admiration for all he and Habitat for Humanity had accomplished on a global scale. It was the best I could do. The dedication ceremony began, we both gave our speeches, and I was in absolute awe of Millard’s breathtaking communication skills. 

Decades later, this interaction with an esteemed housing leader remains a vivid memory. But I fear I am still not yet smarter about suppressing opinions on affordable housing (yes, this is an opinion article). That is because I feel even more strongly today that we need to expect more from affordable housing. Providing shelter is not good enough. It is critical to also nurture wellness in all its forms. 

First, affordable housing should be optimized for healthy living. Second, affordable housing should minimize homeowner financial burden. And finally, affordable housing should be prepared to adapt to huge forces impacting homeownership to minimize obsolescence. 

A home is not like a smart phone that is replaced every few years. It is the ultimate consumer product that should last for more than 100 years. In other words, it is imperative for affordable housing to optimize all forms of wellness: health, financial, and future-readiness. Unfortunately, extensive personal observations suggest this comprehensive approach to wellness is lacking in neighborhoods across the country. 

No demographic suffers more from this lack of wellness-focused housing than low-income households. The following sections provide a brief overview of the impressive opportunities to apply this larger vision for affordable housing. They are based on my book, “Housing 2.0: A Disruption Survival Guide,” which provides much-greater detail about the many best practices introduced in this article.

Health and Wellness: Beyond IAQ

Leading the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Energy Star Certified Home program was the most rewarding job I ever had. No other job before it was remotely as rewarding. Yet, I decided to leave EPA and join the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2011. 

A driving force for this change was the opportunity to create a new high-performance home label that ensured comprehensive indoor air quality (IAQ) protection missing from Energy Star Certified Home version 3. We did that by creating the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home (ZERH) program and making EPA Indoor airPLUS certification mandatory. 

That was a good start. However, health wellness goes far beyond IAQ. A wide range of choices made while planning communities and designing homes have significant impacts on health related to stress, depression, sleep loss, productivity, cortisol levels, immune system, conditioning, vitamin D levels and healing. 

Where health is not optimized, low-income households suffer the most because they are the least insured, disproportionately impacted by income loss due to sick days, and most challenged preparing their children for success at school. These factors along with simple compassion is why optimized health should be an imperative for affordable housing.

Affordable Housing and Financial Wellness

Financial burden creates significant and persistent stress linked to physical and mental health. As the housing affordability crisis soars to historic levels, there are significant indicators Americans are financially stressed. This includes reports that nearly two-thirds of households have no savings on a monthly basis; about 40 percent of households cannot afford an unexpected $400 expense; and more than 60 percent of Americans are worried about paying for housing the next year. More than ever, it is essential to use all tools available to minimize the total housing cost burden, including first cost and ownership cost. 

Future-Proofing Homes At All Price Points

Homes are typically the largest investment of a lifetime. Yet, they are at risk of becoming obsolete if not designed and constructed ready to adapt to the imminent future:

• A future where homebuyers are exponentially more informed and will assign higher value to communities and homes that live, last and perform better. 
• A future where the exponentially increasing frequency and magnitude of disaster events pose much greater risks and higher insurance costs if you can get it. 
• A future where the zero-energy train has left the station along with related expectations looming for all-electric homes, smart homes, solar energy systems, battery storage and electric vehicle charging. 

Communities and homes not ready for this future are at risk of less appreciation, protection, and readiness to deploy compelling new innovations for mitigating utility bills and superior operation. Those old enough may remember ads promoting oil changes with the tagline, “you can pay me now or pay me much more later.”

That same message applies to the choices we make developing communities and homes. In some cases, these choices result in liabilities that are locked in for perpetuity (e.g., lot orientation, open spaces, view optimization, and excessively complex architecture). 

What’s Coming Next for Housing and Wellness

This article is just the beginning of conversation about the wellness imperative: Where ignored, low-income households will pay the greatest cost because they are most in need of the financial, health and future readiness outcomes.

I understand it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the extensive recommendations discussed for enhancing wellness. Don’t be. It’s not critical to apply all strategies and best practices. But it is critical to incrementally start adding those you can. Integrating wellness in affordable housing is a journey.

An excellent example is “The Other Side Village” in Salt Lake City, for people without housing. There have been years of political struggles for the un-housed to finally get it under construction. 

The early layout for the project shown in the rendering below demonstrates a comprehensive vision for integrating wellness in affordable housing. The key strategies include open spaces (e.g., town center, trails, parks, recreation, and gardens), quality features (e.g., landscaping and hardscaping), and enduring value (e.g., optimized views, front porches and strong governance). It would be a significant lost opportunity to not evaluate and disseminate lessons-learned applying wellness in projects like The Other Side Village.

Projects such as “The Other Side Village” in Salt Lake City offer a comprehensive vision for integrating wellness in affordable housing by managing open space, quality features, and value. Courtesy The Other Side Village

Please understand that I do not want to ever discount the vital work done by affordable housing advocates. It takes a huge effort to overcome a myriad of challenges just to get people sheltered. This is just a suggestion that there are impressive opportunities to do better. Or at least try. 

This begins by rethinking how wellness best practices are essential to affordability for attaining and owning housing. Then we need to create processes to apply them to reduce the financial burden, nurture all aspects of health, and enable critical upgrades for minimizing obsolescence without severe cost penalties and disruption to occupants. 

Millard Fuller is no longer with us. He passed away in 2009. Decades after our exchange, I am still urging affordable housing advocates to expand their mission beyond just providing shelter. 

Hopefully, I am a lot smarter about how to engage inspirational leaders who already give so much of themselves just to put roofs over the heads of low-income families to be more inclusive of wellness. I am too dumb to stop trying. 

Learn more about Sam Rashkin’s Housing 2.0 program here.

The Housing 2.0 optimization framework includes financial wellness strategies, best practices and compelling outcomes that should be considered essential to a truly affordable housing project. Source: Sam Rashkin