Global Green News
Affordable housing goes green too
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. APRIL 10, 2010. By Jessica Garrison
During a tour of his new East Rancho Dominguez apartment, Octavio Reyna paused proudly at his low-flow toilet.
"Two kinds of flush," he said, gesturing to the buttons on top of the shiny white porcelain and delicately leaving the specifics to his guest's imagination.
Then he was on to the bathtub, where "it's in our contract that we can't change the shower head," then the kitchen, with its shiny floor that is "green-friendly," and then the living room, where an energy-guzzling air conditioner was conspicuously absent.
Reyna, his wife and two children have been living at Casa Dominguez for only a few weeks, but already their view of the environment and their place in it has changed. They use eco-friendly cleaning products, are recycling for the first time in their lives and have become conscious of how much water and energy they use.
It is a transformation taking place up and down the quiet corridors of the 70-unit affordable housing project that has risen on a grubby stretch of Atlantic Avenue near the Compton border.
Like the Prius and the $5 locally grown heirloom tomato, green building has been a status symbol among the wealthy. Affordable housing, on the other hand, typically has been made as economically as possible — the better to provide homes for as many people as possible. Green touches have long been a luxury.
Casa Dominguez is one of a number of new developments signaling a change. The $31-million project, built by the Los Angeles-based affordable housing developer Abode Communities, is aiming to be the first multifamily affordable housing project in Los Angeles County to win the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certification, the U.S. Green Building Council's highest LEED rating.
The building was constructed with a prefabricated framing system that reduced waste. An on-site healthcare clinic and a child-care center lessen residents' need to drive. The playground surface is made from recycled tires, and drought-tolerant landscaping is irrigated with gray water from the washing machines.
Common areas are solar-powered, and residents are kept comfortable in winter with hydronic climate control, meaning the water-heating system also helps to keep apartments warm. There is no air conditioning; instead, units have ceiling fans, and the building is designed to capture breezes and keep air circulating in a way that provides natural cooling in summer.
The flooring is low-emission tile free of polyvinyl chloride, Energy Star lighting uses compact fluorescent bulbs, and the walls' blow-in insulation is composed of recycled material.
Robin Hughes, the president of Abode, said this kind of green affordable housing is a form of social justice.
"Sustainability practices should be something we embrace no matter what income level we are at," she said. "By living at Casa Dominguez, families have the opportunity to be informed and educated and then embrace sustainable practices in their own lives."
