Boston Green Realty
229 Berkeley Street
Boston Ma.02116
Office Number: (617) 262-3075

http://www.bostongreenrealty.com/

In the present economic contraction, community-wrenching foreclosures have become all too common.  In order to help stem the tide of displacement and preserve the social and economic integrity of communities, a long established Boston grassroots agency, City Life / Vida Urbana, has pioneered the Tenant Bank Association.  The objective of this unique association is to help find win-win solutions for all stakeholders.  Since its establishment in 2007, the Association has stopped 95% of the eviction cases it's handled.  In many cases, banks have accepted rent, and in an increasing number of cases, banks are even selling properties to occupants at the real appraised value, perhaps half the old loan value.

• According to City Life / Vida Urbana, Boston experienced 1,200+ foreclosures last year. That’s about 2,400 households, or 4 - 5,000 people, faced with forcible eviction from their homes. 
• If the same amount were displace from fire or flooding, it would be considered a national disaster.

The Housing Partnership, an award-winning peer-to-peer network of the nation's top performing nonprofit development organizations, is stabilizing the skyrocketing cost of property insurance for nonprofit affordable housing providers. By pooling risk and capital and negotiating a custom program with national insurance carriers, the Housing Partnership is able to offer competitive insurance rates through an alternative of non-private sector financial collaboration.

Having over 19 regional nonprofits own the insurance entity provides financial security and has enabled over 37,000 homes to attain property and liability coverage. This spread of coverage has saved over $1 million annually in premiums, which is directly reinvested into affordable housing and resident services. 

One Family is a not-for-profit organization devoted to ending family homelessness in Massachusetts that serves as a nationwide model. One Family brings together elected officials, faith- and community-based organizations, and philanthropic and private leaders to design and implement effective, lasting solutions to family homelessness.  By shifting the focus from temporary fixes to permanent solutions, One Family is solving the family homelessness problem, helping to break the cycle of poverty and provide stability for future generations--one family at a time.

• Temporary shelters cost $37,000 a room/year on average
• more than 200 families were rapidly re-housed with $6,000 rental vouchers
• The One Family Scholars Program is a network of educational, mentoring, and other support services to help homeless families restore their dignity and self-esteem and achieve economic independence

Planned and built by a group called Postgreen, the 100K house project started as a mission to prove that a LEED Platinum house could be built for under $100,000 in hard construction costs. Rather than focusing on unnecessary luxuries, the 100k House has sustained a high level of quality, design, energy efficiency, health, and sustainability throughout the entire project.

The innovation not only lies within the 100K House structure itself, but also in the philosophy with which it was built. Much more can be done with far less, bringing the costs down and making clean, healthy, and wholesome home ownership possible for more people.

• At 1,150 square feet, the 100k House is less than $100 a square foot, completely unheard of in the realm of LEED Platinum buildings
• Projected sales prices of the 100k House will be about $200,000. Compared to other homes in the neighborhood, this is still relatively inexpensive with a good margin for profit

After a massive two-mile-wide tornado destroyed everything in the area in 2007, the town of Greensburg, Kansas has decided to rebuild with a completely sustainable recovery plan. To go along with the town's slogan of "Better, Stronger, Greener!", all new structures are to be built by LEED Platinum standards.  Greensburg, Kansas has teamed up with the grass-roots organization, Greensburg GreenTown, to assist in developing green management plans, educating citizens on green building methods and eco-resources, and sharing the community's accomplishments with tourists. 

• 4 LEED Platinum buildings have already been certified - including the Municipal Building - and 4 more commercial buildings are in the process of applying for certification
• Greensburg GreenTown programs include tours, a chain of twelve eco-home models for future testing, and a Sustainable Building Database to document their efforts and successes

A unique collaboration between two world-leading companies has established a new paradigm for affordable and energy efficient prefabricated housing.  It started as a dialogue between furniture retail giant IKEA and international home construction firm Skanska, both of Sweden, and lead to the two companies making a move on a virtually empty market for green modular apartments.  Mass-produced and internationally shipped, BokLok modular apartments have given Europeans a retail-styled home shopping experience - providing energy efficient homes, furnished with IKEA wares, and priced specifically to be affordable for first time buyers.  The concept is lowering the threshold of home ownership and reducing the energy use and costs associated with construction and maintenance.

• The prefab units are assembled on site.  A two-story unit can be setup in a day.
• BokLok apartments are sold in over 5 European countries, at 100 locations. Over 4,000 modular apartments have been sold.
• The Swedish translation of Bo Klok is “live smart.”

Malmö stad, 205 80 Malmö
Telephone: +49 040-34 10 00
E-mail:malmostad@malmo.se
www.malmo.se

Eco cities are not a new idea and yet the failure rate on deliverables is very high. The city of Malmö,  Sweden's third largest city, has succeeded in becoming an international demonstration of environmental transformation of a densely built urban environment and acombination of different renewable technologies into one integrated system. Investments are being made for the multiphase project through an intensive consensus process involving its inhabitants. As part of the first phase, a contaminated industrial site and former shipyard was converted to an ecologically sustainable area known as the Western Harbor / Bo01 housing 10,000 families.

• For its 100% renewable power, in addition to solar technology and green roofs, the city is home to one of the largest off shore wind farms - 48 turbines to power up to 60,000 homes
• Homes convert organic waste to biogas which also powers the public buses
• Summer heat is stored in an aquifer system, a natural  bedrock  reservoir, and pumped during the winter. Cold water is also stored from the winter to cool the homes during the summer
• Improvements also include 70% recycling and composting, self cleaning rainwater management, increase in green areas and safeguarding ecology, reducing car mobility and attention to social interests

Through the large number of innovative practices, the city's housing and development progress has become a prominent case study. A vibrant population steadily growing with 5,000 people arriving every year, it has been designated as fair trade city.  Through the community's will and leadership, it proves the possibility of creating and converting city districts without additional CO₂ emissions.

An 82-unit housing development in South London is arguably the world's premier example of sustainable living. Though it features all of the amenities of contemporary residential properties, BedZED is a zero (fossil) energy and "carbon neutral" development. All power and heat are generated using sustainable resources. Operating the property, including wastewater treatment, results in no net addition of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and no load on local utilities. The units, which sold in six months, achieve savings of 55-65% for energy and water. Specifically:

• 135 kW power plant burns wood chips harvested through sustainable forestry
• A rainwater collection system is used to flush toilets
• Turf rooftops retain water, reduce energy costs, and provide green space
• A network of photovoltaic panels provide electricity for 40 communally owned electric vehicles