Enterprise Commits $4 Billion to Accelerate Affordable Green Housing Nationwide

Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. is making a $4 billion commitment to launch the next generation of its Green Communities initiative. In addition to making one of the largest private investments in green affordable housing, Enterprise released the first-of-its-kind study proving the overall return on investment and cost effectiveness of meeting the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria when building affordable housing.

Building on its own commitment, Enterprise is issuing a national call to action to public, private, and nonprofit sectors to make all affordable housing—new and existing—green by 2020. Based on its research, Enterprise released Incremental Cost, Measurable Savings: Enterprise Green Communities Criteria, which notes that green affordable homes offer significant health, economic, and environmental benefits to residents.

Through its newly established retrofit funds, in key markets, Enterprise will lend to existing multifamily building owners for energy and water reduction capital purchases and healthy living environment improvements. In May, Enterprise committed its $95 million New Markets Tax Credit allocation to target green deals, which bolster funding for commercial and mixed-use developments with demonstrable community impact. Enterprise is also purchasing carbon offsets from green affordable housing developers by raising charitable contributions.

Enterprise also is developing tools for greening affordable housing. These include a national retrofit protocol for building performance audits and an industry-wide data management platform to track building performance, as well as green asset management and policy guidance.