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CENTERING EQUITY IN THE SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SECTOR

ABBREVIATED SUMMARY: CESBS LAUNCH SUMMIT

AUGUST 2018

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Contents Introduction: Why this? Why now? Why us? .............................................................................. 1

The Imperative for Equity in the Sustainable Buildings Sector .................................................... 5

Health and Safety ................................................................................................................... 6

Equity in Building Standards ..................................................................................................10

Federal, State, and Local Policies .........................................................................................13

Affordable and Multifamily Housing .......................................................................................15

Education ..............................................................................................................................16

Equitable Economic Development .........................................................................................17

Finance Mechanisms .............................................................................................................20

Communications ....................................................................................................................21

Promising Equity-Based Sustainable Building Model Projects ...................................................24

Conclusion: Let Us Begin ..........................................................................................................26

End Notes .................................................................................................................................28

Cover Page Images (Clockwise from Top): Via Verde ("Green Way") New York City Alice Ferguson Foundation: The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Environmental Center American Geophysical Union: Building Demolition Workers Image at Right: Belfield Avenue Townhomes Philadelphia

What is a sustainable building? Sustainable buildings have excellent energy efficiency, water efficiency, ecosystem protection, waste reduction, indoor comfort, access to the community, and other environmental, social, and economic benefits. The terms “sustainable,” “green,” “healthy,” “regenerative,” “high-performance,” and “living” buildings are often used interchangeably.

What is equity? According to PolicyLink, equity is “just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.”

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INTRODUCTION: WHY THIS? WHY NOW? WHY US? Communities of color and low-income communities bear the brunt of the impacts of unhealthy, energy-inefficient, and disaster-vulnerable buildings through poor health and financial impacts of high energy bills, as well as the disproportionate negative effects of climate change, to which buildings contribute as a major consumer of fossil fuel-based energy. Yet, as one looks around the tables or worksites of the sustainable and regenerative building sector, there is little representation of the populations most impacted by our current proliferation of unsustainable, inefficient, sometimes unsafe, and often unhealthy building stock. Whether it’s as policy makers, advocates, architects, project managers, contractors, or even in the construction workforce, the most impacted communities are underrepresented in the design, construction, and occupancy of sustainable, regenerative, healthy buildings. Given the huge import of buildings in reducing the demand on energy production, plus the co-benefits that regenerative design has for building occupants and the community, not to mention the environment, all of this points to the fact that this gap in access and uptake must drastically change, and quickly, to build a big tent and universalize sustainable, regenerative buildings.

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Our aim as the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization is to be a beacon of inspiration and transformation in centering equity in the sustainable building sector. In doing so, we can catalyze the building of a bigger, broader tent for the sustainable building movement, towards the betterment of the building users, the communities, the economy, and the planet. In actualizing our commitment to ground our operations in the principles and practices of our environmental and climate justice platform, the NAACP will establish its headquarters as an exemplar for an Equitable Living Building Project. Through this effort, we will develop a replicable model of ensuring the centering of equity in all aspects of sustainable, healthy, safe, and regenerative buildings, including access, affordability, co-benefits, cultural resonance, inclusive decision-making, financing, service provision, procurement, contracting, employment, communications, monitoring and evaluation, and so much more.

--- Our first step was to establish a project level Equity Committee and to engage an Equity Fellow to do a desk review of the existing green and living building guidance documents, standards, and actual projects that have been implemented with the aim of examining, documenting, being grounded in, and building upon, what’s already happening. Next, we pulled together thought leaders and practitioners to determine how we go beyond having equity as merely a petal or an optional aspect of the green and living building sector, and to advance an action agenda to have equity at the foundation and center of the sustainable building movement. As such, we assembled people and organizations who are currently leading in this sector and those who should be engaged around green buildings but aren’t, to begin to shift the narrative of the sector. This gathering, which took place in August 2018, then launched an initiative to advance this transformation in the sector, with the NAACP Headquarters Project as the Flagship Luminary for Comprehensive Implementation of an Equity Based Green Building Project. Through this collective, consultative, process, the plan is for this initiative to be the catalyst and vehicle for institutionalization of policies, programming and practices that center equity in the sustainable building sector.

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We have built out our dynamic NAACP Environmental & Climate Justice team to include a dedicated staff member for this work, and we now embark together upon a CESBS Initiative start-up phase. Here is what you can expect to see from us and work with us to achieve in 2019:

CESBS Initiative Action Plan

Monthly Implementation Working Group E-Meetings

Monthly Educational Webinars

CESBS Reports, Dynamic Equity Resource List, and Toolkit

Policy Platform for Equity Based Sustainable Building Sector

Maryland and Baltimore Policy/Regulatory Model Reform Plan

Model Design for a Flagship Equity Based Green Building—The NAACP National Headquarters

Second CESBS Summit

Will you join us in this work?

The CESBS Initiative seeks to: 1. Make sustainable buildings

universally accessible to all communities.

2. Integrate equity-based strategies into building standards for sustainability.

3. Deepen diversity, equity, and inclusion in sustainable building professions.

Stay informed and get engaged: https://www.naacp.org/climate-justice-resources/

CESBS Champions

Derrick Johnson has served as the NAACP’s President and CEO since

October 2017. President Johnson is a veteran activist who has dedicated his career to defending the rights and improving the lives of Mississippians. Starting with recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina, he has elevated sustainable development as a critical social justice movement. “Sustainable, regenerative development is a continuation of the African-American reliance on closed-loop systems. I grew up eating oxtail because it was part of the animal and therefore should be consumed. The media said to eat fast food, despite being more expensive, less healthy, and much less delicious. In time, I came to understand that oxtail was the better, more sustainable choice. Nothing goes to waste, and we return to our values. We

have gotten where we are today through confusing waste with abundance.”

Leon Russell was elected the Chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors

in February 2017, after serving as a board member for 27 years. Chairman Russell directed the Office of Human Rights for Pinellas County Government, Clearwater, Florida from 1977-2012, implementing the county’s Affirmative Action and Human Rights Ordinances which provide for the development of a racially and sexually diverse workforce. Together with President Johnson, he has charted a vision for a sustainable and living headquarters building for the NAACP to embody its goals for environmental and climate justice. “The climate crisis disproportionately impacts communities of color, whether it’s flooding, displacement or proximity of industrial pollution sites near our communities increasing health-related problems or the failure to have equal access to economic opportunities in the green economy – our communities

are suffering and caught in the middle.”

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THE IMPERATIVE FOR EQUITY IN THE SUSTAINABLE BUILDING SECTOR

We spend 90% of our time indoors, where pollutants can be much more concentrated

than in outdoor environments and contribute to serious health impacts.1

One in three households experience energy insecurity, meaning they pay a

disproportionate amount of their income on utilities.2 One in five households are forced

to make trade-offs between paying energy bills, sustaining adequate heating and

cooling, or paying for basic necessities like food and medicine.

Around 20% of worker deaths in private industry in 2017 were in construction, taking the lives of almost a thousand people that year.3

Buildings produce about 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., which cause global climate change.4 Among many other types of impacts, climate change affects human health by increasing illnesses, diseases, injuries, and deaths from extreme heat, reduced water access and quality, wildfire, intensified air pollution, extreme precipitation, rising sea levels, and storm surge.

Older, lower-cost homes, especially those with deferred maintenance, are less able to withstand disasters and extreme weather, which are worsening every year from climate change.5

Low-income communities, communities of color, and women bear the brunt of these

injustices. Life expectancy gaps based just on one’s zip code reveal the human toll of

environmental injustice, segregation, and disinvestment in these communities.6,7

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Like many other sectors, the building industry has

traditionally followed the path of least resistance and the

path of greatest profit, at the expense of communities.

A major force of change in the building industry has been

the rise of environmentalism, with prominent rating

systems like Leadership in Energy and Environmental

Design (LEED) creating a new vision for responsible

building design, construction, and operations.8

While green building has taken off within some companies and communities, it has yet

to fully reach and empower the people suffering the most from buildings that are

unsafe, unhealthy, unaffordable, and unsustainable.

When green buildings arrive in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color,

they sometimes don’t fit in or even contribute to economic displacement from

gentrification.

The green building movement hasn’t diversified significantly in the U.S. in the past

20 years, leading to an “insider’s club” that is not inviting to people of color in

architecture, design, engineering, construction, facilities management, consulting,

policymaking, and non-profit organizations.9

Sustainable and regenerative design are not new and should be recognized for their history

and significance within communities of color and low-income communities.

Health and Safety The physical design and maintenance of our buildings and communities can significantly improve or worsen our health. Unhealthy homes and buildings are caused by mold, pests, toxic chemicals, lead, asbestos, inadequate carbon monoxide and fire prevention, and outdoor air pollutants such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter.10 These problems are caused by poor ventilation and air filtration, too much moisture, deferred maintenance, and proximity to polluting neighborhood facilities, such as factories, power plants, highways, and bus depots.

“Black America isn’t

missing from this sector,

this sector is missing us.”

Tamara Toles O’Laughlin North America Director, 350.org

When morality comes up

against profit, it is seldom

that profit loses.

Shirley Chisholm

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Additional indoor air pollutants can be produced by building materials, consumer products, paints, furniture, tobacco smoke, pesticides and rodenticides, cleaning supplies, and even cracks in the building foundation in the case of radon gas.11 In some cases, simple strategies, such as providing air quality monitors in homes and educating families when to close their windows, can save lives. However, we still have a lot to learn about health hazards in our homes because nearly most chemicals in commercial use (about 70,000 of them) do not have any available health data.

On the other hand, healthy buildings have good water quality, thermal comfort, natural daylight, visual comfort, appealing views, access to nature and community, noise control, physical safety, opportunities for physical activity, restorative design for mental health, access to healthy food, and universal design for all people regardless of their physical abilities.12,13,14 You can often see the health and wealth of a place; for example, the number and quality of amenities like parks, sidewalks, and farmers’ markets tend to follow historical patterns of community segregation and disinvestment.

Image: Monadnock Development

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Due to unjust housing practices, there are far more unhealthy homes in low-income communities and communities of color.15 Income barriers and housing discrimination often force people to choose unhealthy homes. This trend can lead to a pattern of instability and displacement when neighborhoods experience a wave of new construction. Low-income people are pushed out when they can no longer afford their own homes or the new homes being built. The process begins again when these families move to a different neighborhood where unhealthy homes are, again, the only affordable option. In particular, asthma is a prevalent health issue in unhealthy homes, as it is worsened by outdoor and indoor air pollution and allergens. Communities of color have more facilities that aggravate asthma in their neighborhoods, and African Americans are three times more likely to be hospitalized or die from asthma.16 Children of color are more likely than any other group in the U.S. to experience asthma, with indoor allergens posing the greatest risk. Lead exposure, commonly from tap water and old paint, presents another major challenge for tens of millions of households, with disproportionate impacts based on race and income.17,18 Lead is invisible, odorless, and tasteless and has no safe threshold for exposure. Lead poisoning has developmental impacts on children, as well as nerve, joint, heart, and muscle problems for both children and adults.

CESBS Champion

Summer Lee is a lifelong resident of Pennsylvania’s

34th district near Pittsburgh, where she is a tireless advocate for environmental justice as State Representative. In the Pittsburgh region, air quality monitors show that the city is among the worst; it ranks in the 6th percentile nationally and experiences bad air quality 2/3 of the time (249 days of the year). Many of the communities in her district bear the brunt of regional air and water pollution, with 35% of children in the local school district suffering from asthma (compared to 8% nationally). District residents live amongst hundreds of blighted homes that are left untouched due to cost, and many struggle with household health risks from lead paint and asbestos. Environmental and economic conditions in the district, perpetuated by cyclical racism, cause hopelessness, depression, and a mentality of scarcity. “When I left home for college, I noticed the air felt different. Many people have never left this community, so this is the world they know. Breathing the air in my community is the equivalent of smoking two cigarettes a day. This is not only not normal, but not okay.” Since ousting an incumbent of 20 years, Summer has been fighting for a moratorium on fracking and petrochemical plants, full state funding of lead water line replacement, restoring PA Department of Environmental Protection funding, and transitioning to 100% renewable energy across the state.

Image: Friends of Summer Lee

Image: Onion Flats

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From Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, we know that inequity is the norm in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery in the U.S. It is clear that low-income families and people of color communities bear the burden and are treated differently in the government response to weather-related disasters, which are increasing in number every year.19,20 Unfortunately, only half of these events trigger Federal assistance.21 Meanwhile, we know that every $1 invested in preparation, such as building resilient homes, saves $4 that would have been spent on after a disaster, on average.22 As long as buildings remain a top contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, the very places we inhabit are causing the world’s biggest public health crisis: climate change. Every day a new report about extreme and deadly heat, rainfall, wildfires, droughts, or storms reminds us that our buildings are critical for our short-term and long-term survival. Buildings can and must be designed to produce zero harmful emissions (carbon neutral or net zero) and be adaptable to serve many generations to come. Simple design strategies, such as shading from tree canopy and battery storage for on-site renewable energy, can help communities reverse and adapt to climate change.

We know that we can’t have healthy people without healthy buildings. We stand together in declaring that everyone has the right to a quality and affordable home. Example recommendations to ensure that buildings are healthy and safe:

Health impact assessments (HIAs) should be completed for every project at an early phase. HIAs evaluate the potential health effects of a project before it is built, often with an equity lens. The HIA process brings public health issues to the attention of decision-makers about things like land use or transportation, providing recommendations to increase positive health outcomes and minimize negative health outcomes.

CESBS Champion

Kathy Egland has been a leader in the NAACP

since she began confronting segregation as a youth organizer, and she now serves on the National Board of Directors and chairs its Environmental and Climate Justice Committee. A firsthand advocate for environmental justice, Kathy has lived alongside and resisted chemical and coal-fired power plants and witnessed the increasing intensity of hurricanes for more than 40 years along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Her home was one of the few in her community in Gulfport, MS, to survive Hurricane Katrina intact, but a low-quality roof replacement soon led to water damage and her hospitalization from pathogenic mold. Kathy has again demonstrated resilience firsthand; she is pictured here in front of a new, storm-resistant FORTIFIED roof, certified by MyStrongHome and financed from insurance savings. “Green building is not about modernization, it’s about democratization.”

Never forgetting the human and economic costs of coastal storms on poor and uninsured families, Kathy fights for climate adaptation nationally within communities of color. Image: MyStrongHome

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Equity in Building Standards Voluntary rating systems and model codes for green, living buildings have grown in the past

two decades in the United States. Yet, the impact of green building standards in advancing

equity has been mixed and relatively small.

Figure 1. Several prominent green building rating and certification systems available in the United States.

Even though awareness of these standards is increasing, only a few hundred

thousand certifications have been awarded (out of more than 120 million buildings in

the country).23

For many programs, compliant buildings are mostly commercial and new construction

projects, leaving behind the vast majority of residents whose daily experiences are

defined by residential buildings and older, existing buildings.

In many cases, sustainable buildings are confined to luxury markets where

sustainability features earn a premium for tenant leases or rental prices.

A shining exception to this story has been the Green Communities Criteria program, a

framework and certification developed by Enterprise Community Partners to bring the improved

health, economic, and environmental benefits of sustainable construction practices to low-

income families and address the unique needs of the affordable housing sector.24 The program

has resulted in $3.9 billion in investment for 127,000 certified, affordable homes.25

WELL

Living Building

Challenge

LEED SITES

BREEAM

Green Globes

Energy Star

Passive House

Institute US

Green Communities

Criteria

Sustainability without equity is sustaining inequities.

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In recent years, standards developers began prioritizing equity for building projects seeking

certification. Notably, the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) requires various equity

“imperatives” for Living Building Challenge projects, addressing concepts such as

Equitable Investment, Just Organizations, Inclusion, and Universal Access. The U.S. Green

Building Council (USGBC) developed three experimental credits, called pilot credits, to

encourage LEED projects to promote social equity within their project teams, surrounding

communities, and supply chains.

While these are critical steps in the right direction, there is a long way to go to fully integrate

and center the concept of equity within sustainability for the building industry. For example,

while many standards have optional criteria to consider health, resilience, and equity for

occupants, almost none require the project to create a robust, equity-based, shared agreement

about community and worker benefits.

A number of community-scale sustainability

programs launched in the past decade, including the

Living Community Challenge (ILFI) and LEED for

Cities and Communities (USGBC). In particular, the

Ecodistricts program prioritizes equity in its

requirements, offering a comprehensive framework for

urban and community development from policy and

planning to implementation.

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Requiring equity within building standards is important because it sets up a mechanism for

accountability and establishes a baseline for improvement. Eventually, standards are

intended to become mainstream and then evolve to push the bar even higher.

To be rooted in an equity lens, the organizations that develop standards have a responsibility to

prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion practices for staff and stakeholders; build and

maintain relationships with justice organizations and leaders; and make or expand commitments

to equity in strategic planning and certification criteria. They must become “consciously

competent” in equity thinking and practices, rather than “unconsciously collusive.”

Standards organizations should ensure that their resources, including rating systems,

educational products, and professional credentials, are accessible to all regardless of income,

education, language, ability, and other factors. Standards organizations must work with partners

to expand funding and technical assistance for building projects with fewer resources and

grow their own programs to provide direct support to underserved communities.

Image: Jonathan Rose Companies

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Federal, State, and Local Policies A promising evolution in the sustainable building sector has been the adoption of green

building standards and regulations in federal, state, and local policy. More than 700

policies related to sustainable buildings are in force around the country.26

In terms of equity, first we should look at affordable housing. Through the Low-Income

Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, states are granted federal funding in order to leverage

investment in affordable rental housing. State housing financing authorities are required to

outline criteria to prioritize which projects receive LIHTC funding in their Qualified Allocation

Plan (QAP). Each state determines its own competitive criteria for its QAP, which can include

green building certification.

According to Global Green’s 2017 QAP

Analysis, 32 states have incentivized third-party

green building certification programs in their

QAPs, up from 25 states in 2016.27 Several

states like Georgia go a step further, requiring

third-party green building certification for LIHTC

applicants. While these advancements are a

welcome sign of progress, they are still too few

and overly-dependent on voluntary efforts.

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Images: Alice Ferguson Foundation

Returning to a more universal starting point, a coalition of environmental and climate justice

advocates in Maryland galvanized residents to push for a constitutional Green Amendment for

the state starting in 2018.28 First seen in Pennsylvania and Montana, green amendments protect

residents’ right to uncontaminated water, breathable air, and a healthy environment for present

and future generations. The state must protect these rights, or else face challenges in the court

of law. In this way, green amendments can protect against violations such as: exposure to

pollution, challenges to land use and ownership, and contributions to climate change.

In addition to passing and improving legislation, we must renew our commitment to

implementation and enforcement of policy. In a tragic example, only 1 in 5 households

eligible for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) gets the

assistance they need to pay their electric, natural gas, or other heating bills. What’s worse, more

LIHEAP funding goes to the northeast than to the south, which sends the message that air-

conditioning is not as important for saving lives as heating.

Examples for policies to support equity in the sustainable building sector include:

Universally sustainable affordable housing through a

federally-standardized green building QAP incentive or

requirement

Stronger transparency and accountability for energy

utilities

New and improved codes for sustainability in buildings,

such as measures to help people survive in

emergencies

It takes roots to

weather the storm.

Climate Justice

Alliance

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Affordable and Multifamily Housing Strong public policy is necessary to control housing market forces driven by profit and

convenience, rather than human need and dignity. Despite having a complex web of regulations

and subsidies, the country is far from realizing a vision of plentiful, diverse, high-quality, and

stable housing options for people of all incomes.

The U.S. has only 35 affordable units for every 100 low-income people, and severe housing

cost burden (spending more than half of one’s income on housing) is substantially higher among

renters, low-income households, and African American households.29 While we consider

methods to promote sustainable design within affordable housing communities, it is necessary

to consider how to make basic improvements to affordable housing development in the first

place.

Examples of more equitable frameworks for affordable housing include: Always pair together a public health expert, community member and political champion

in advisory, decision-making, and communication roles

Community ownership over multifamily housing, such as cooperatives and land trusts

Establish Displacement Free Zones that freeze property taxes from increasing

Image: Blokable

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Education Whether we think about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM),

architecture and design, or green building professions, education and professional pathways

into the sector must be simplified and expanded with an intentional approach to reverse

inequities in terms of access and opportunity. Data about race and gender representation in

sustainable building is not currently available, but we know there are significant economic,

educational, and cultural obstacles.

In order to enter this sector, underrepresented people must overcome existing barriers to higher

education. Then, they face barriers to specialization in sustainable building fields and yet more

barriers to employment, retention, professional development, and leadership. As an example of

the state of the industry, consider that less than 2% of registered architects are African

American Americans, and less than 0.4% are African American women.30

As a first step, the language of green building must be easier to understand. Many green

building programs are highly technical and assume familiarity with their unique terms. This

requires significant time and money to learn, for example, by taking exams for professional

credentials and then maintaining those credentials every year. Stakeholder advisory boards and

“translators” could facilitate better communication regardless of education or income level. In

addition, informal education models are needed in addition to professional and academic

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models. Lastly, data from property owners and managers, companies, regulators, and

standards developers should be publicly-accessible for research and use by a wider network.

Where possible, we should expand access to green building knowledge through experiential

learning – in other words, learning by seeing and doing. A simple and powerful way to do this is

to incorporate sustainable design practices in schools, the very places where we send children

to learn. The YouthBuild program also provides an example of engaging youth who are low-

income, unemployed, and not in school through formal and informal pathways into construction.

Community engagement can also serve as an education tool, but we need more project

managers willing to create room for mutual learning and open dialogue. As practitioners go into

communities, they must be open to listening and adapting their agendas, not just bringing their

own ideas from outside the community.

Next, the sustainable building industry, like other STEM and design fields, needs deeper and

broader diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and mentorship opportunities. Simply

put, we need more experts who look like the children, students, and young professionals we

seek to embrace in the sector, particularly through direct learning opportunities on projects. We

imagine a future in which the green building community provides funding for every minority

architect to become accredited in sustainable design.

We can only center equity by leading our green building education programs with a civil rights

and environmental justice agenda. Just over 50 years after his iconic speech to the American

Institutes of Architects, we should still be guided by the words of Whitney M. Young, Jr., the

executive director of the National Urban League at the time: “We are going to have to have

people as committed to doing the right thing, to inclusiveness, as we have in the past to

exclusiveness.”31

Equitable Economic Development When we think about the sustainable building workforce, we must remember that blue-collar workers are critically needed to actually implement sustainable practices and often confront some of the most serious inequities. For construction, landscaping, manufacturing, maintenance, and janitorial workers across the sustainable building sector, for example, we

CESBS Champion

Dale Glenwood Green is the Chair of the Historic

Preservation Program and a Professor of Architecture at Morgan State University. He joined the faculty with a mission to infuse historic preservation education, research and scholarship within the curriculum. Green’s teaching and research explores the essence of context, resulting in engaging, inspirational, and evocative historic built and natural environments that embody, rather than simply contain, the stories being told. Green is also a Historical Architect and LEED Accredited Professional and chairs the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture. “Shaping the environment is best done by the people who live in it."

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must ensure that the benefits of a growing green building economy improve quality of life for all. First, living wage provisions and wage theft prevention through company or government policy can help ensure that employees are paid wages that keep pace with the cost of living. Training programs are limited by the time, cost, and capacity constraints of the workers they intend to serve. A shift must occur to make it the responsibility among employers to provide free on-site training programs and apprenticeships that are integrated into the work day, or at least provide subsidies and flexibility in scheduling to encourage workers to take advantage of off-site or digital training programs. Unions can leverage certifications for sustainable building for better compensation, just as developers have leveraged certifications to receive premiums for their properties. When leveraging investments in energy efficiency, which are now driving job growth in construction and manufacturing, training for soft skills and remedial education is a good starting point. However, it is even better to pursue industry-recognized certification through occupational skill training. In the best case scenario, workers are paid prevailing or living wages and connected to career pathways through partnerships with colleges and industry, skill re-training programs, and apprenticeships. Policy tools to spur these changes include project labor agreements, community workforce agreements, and procurement policies. The growing green economy offers a window of opportunity for people of color and women to be owners and leaders in sustainable building fields. These voices can lead and benefit from the adoption of sustainable building, rather than being exploited.

Image: International Living Future Institute

“Let your abundance

be a supply for your

neighbor in need.”

Kimberly Lewis SVP, Market Transformation and

Development, North America, U.S.

Green Building Council

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In the short term, greater alignment is needed for local and inclusionary hiring standards for minority and women-owned business enterprises.32 Hiring programs must also be designed thoughtfully to build career pathways, rather than offering temporary, low-advancement work that jumps between neighborhoods or projects. In addition, cooperative employee ownership typically brings the benefits of better compensation, wide participation in governance, higher productivity, lower turnover, increased local spending, community wealth-building, and improved business longevity.

Similarly, collective land and housing ownership, through community land trusts and limited equity housing cooperatives, encourages permanent affordability and wealth-building, while better enabling communities to resist exploitative practices.33 Cooperative models can also apply to renewable energy and other green businesses, as seen in the pioneers like Evergreen Cooperatives of Cleveland and Cooperative Energy Futures in Minnesota.34 Finally, community development corporations (CDCs) with resident shareholders offer low-income residents the opportunity to own equity in real estate projects spearheaded by these organizations.

CESBS Champion

Huda Alkaff is the Founder and Director of the Islamic Environmental Group of

Wisconsin (Wisconsin Green Muslims). An ecologist, educator, and sustainable development expert, she advocates for environmental justice from Milwaukee, the most segregated area in the 2nd most segregated state in the U.S. Among other campaigns, Huda leads an interfaith effort to support congregations across the state in raising awareness, analyzing their buildings, and securing financing to bring energy efficiency upgrades and solar energy to their communities. Informed by the Qur’an’s call to “stand for justice,” Huda prioritizes inclusion and equity for marginalized communities in each campaign. She was named one of the 2015 White House Champions of Change for her work. “We are going back to our roots. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, used to pray outside. We want to have the design of our buildings connect with nature more. We are uplifting how people used to live.”

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Finance Mechanisms In order to realize a vision of sustainable buildings for all people, we must mobilize resources to prioritize communities in which there has been disinvestment. We recognize that for many families with lower incomes and debt, upfront costs are a roadblock for sustainability investments for efficiency, health, or resilience, regardless of any significant long-term savings that could come from these upgrades. Creative and collaborative financing approaches must overcome placing the financial burden for sustainability on those most impacted, by engaging governments, developers, utilities, local banks, credit unions, foundations, worker cooperatives, CDCs, hospitals, insurance companies, and other partners.35 Rather than relying on disempowering structures and temporary subsidies, the sector should establish a new finance network that also empowers communities themselves to accumulate resources from within and keep wealth within. We must accompany investment with training and clear job pathways, invest in enterprises as well as projects, and seek to form long-term relationships rather than one-time grants. Investments should be aligned with the needs and values of each recipient, as one size does not fit all when it comes to equity-building work. In the end, equity must be visible as a priority item in the budget. We can no longer call it “dysfunction” when we talk about the dollars that are not flowing into underserved communities; we must acknowledge that financial systems are working as they were designed. Instead, we must redesign these systems.

The master’s tools

will never dismantle

the master’s house.

Audre Lord

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The following examples provide a few perspectives on ways to strive for an integrated, equity-based approach to financing:

New York City recently set ambitious greenhouse gas emission rules for buildings, the largest emitters in the city, which is being called a “downpayment on the future.”36 The city requires large existing buildings (of 25,000 square feet or more), which account for 60% of emissions citywide, to make efficiency upgrades or pay significant penalties.37 Meanwhile, smaller and lower-income buildings, such as houses of worship and rent-regulated apartments, are exempt from emissions caps and instead will be supported to implement low-cost energy-saving measures such as insulation and temperature controls.

Craft3 is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) that makes loans to strengthen economic, ecological and family resilience in Oregon and Washington. Lending to more than 6,800 businesses, families, and nonprofits, including those without access to traditional financing, Craft3 has invested more than $510 million, leveraged more than $1.1 billion in additional capital investments, and assisted 5,602 homeowners with upgrades since 1994.38

The Illinois Solar for All program provides incentives for solar development for nonprofits and public agencies, as well as residential communities and community solar projects serving customers with low incomes.39 There are no upfront costs to participants and any ongoing costs or fees do not exceed 50% of the value of the energy produced. The program prioritizes providing job training opportunities for economically disadvantaged individuals and environmental justice communities. The program is financed by a Renewable Energy Resources Fund that collected money from Illinois customers’ electric bills over several years.40

Land banks are nonprofit entities that cooperate with local governments to quickly acquire and hold foreclosed and vacant properties, allowing them to be grouped together to build value and create community assets, such as improved housing or new public green space. In the case of New York State Attorney General’s Land Bank Community Revitalization Initiative, land banks have received more than $30 million since 2013, which was collected from settlements with the nation's largest banks over misconduct that contributed to the 2008 housing crisis.41

Communications In addition to key principles for centering equity in the sustainable building sector, we need clear, compelling messages:

Inequalities have been institutionalized in the very design of our communities. They have daily social, health, and economic impacts on communities that do not have access to sustainable buildings.

Without unprecedented action, we face life-threatening environmental and climate crises that will disproportionately harm low-income communities and communities of color.

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Our society has a historic responsibility to invest in solutions in response to past harms, which continue to inhibit us, and invest sufficiently to protect future generations.

Sustainable buildings have tremendous health and economic benefits for their occupants and neighbors, as well as for our natural ecosystems.

The sustainable building sector has remarkable women leaders, leaders of color, and affordable housing communities. This sector is actually the intersection of many sectors. There is a deep desire for environmental and social stewardship within all communities. The sustainability movement is everyone’s.

Communication and Outreach Strategies:

Start the conversation by talking about people, not technology or abstract

environmental problems.

Break the false paradigm of jobs vs. health in unsustainable industries.

Reframe “affordable housing” as “accessible, attainable, quality homes for all.” Reframe “green buildings” as “healthy and sustainable buildings.” Reconsider public information to eliminate elitism and exclusivity.

Communication must emphasize both short-term and long-term consequences of

inaction. We are building a movement, not responding to a single moment.

Academics and urban planners should be collaborating with community leaders,

journalists, and influencers to get the word out about project plans. We must budget for

inclusive workshops and media plans for each sustainable building project.

We will uphold women, people of color, and people with less income rather than

championing “white saviors.”

Elevate sustainable buildings to become part of the national political consciousness and

a standard campaign demand for elected officials.

The first line of contact for telling the story of a sustainable building must be its own

occupants, neighbors, and community leaders. We need trusted ambassadors and

translators, and peer-to-peer networks.

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Create grassroots platforms to empower people to report violations of building

practices, engagement promises, development agreements, regulations, and

expectations for ethical funding.

Practitioners should ask questions and listen more than they offer information or

guidance, unless clearly requested.

Highlight effective and relatable projects for your audience. We need more stories from

schools, faith organizations, affordable homes, and small businesses, the places with

which most Americans resonate.

Work with existing organizations in the sector to center equity in their strategies and

communications, and train their sustainability professionals in participatory facilitation.

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PROMISING EQUITY-BASED SUSTAINABLE BUILDING MODEL PROJECTS What does equity-based sustainable building look and feel like? We offer a few examples

to start the conversation, with more case studies to come.

The Gulf Coast Community Design Studio (GCCDS) is a professional service and outreach

program of Mississippi State University’s College of Architecture, Art + Design. GCCDS was

established in Biloxi, Mississippi, in response to Hurricane Katrina and now provides

architectural design services, landscape and planning assistance, educational opportunities,

and research to organizations and communities within and beyond the Mississippi Gulf Coast.42

Images: GCCDS

The studio has proven effective in building and rehabilitating hundreds of homes due to its

innovative and equity-based strategies; these include comprehensive case management,

inclusion in decision-making for prospective homeowners; and housing options and design in

keeping with each community’s character.

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Images: Groundswell

Groundswell develops community solar projects and programs that connect solar power with economic empowerment in five states and the District of Columbia.43 Groundswell’s model is designed to help neighbors share power with neighbors; project hosts and subscribers paying market rate for energy make solar savings available to low-income households struggling with the burden of high energy bills. Complementing the community solar programs, Groundswell also offers affordable wind power and energy efficiency in states across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast; improves resilience by incorporating energy storage; and incorporates workforce training and apprenticeship opportunities into every project through collaborative local partnerships.

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Images: Wx+H

In 2015, the Washington State legislature expanded its investment in healthy, safe and energy-efficient low-income weatherization in an initiative called Weatherization Plus Health (Wx+H).44 The program provided $2.3 million to eight grant projects around the state in its pilot phase, combining energy and cost-saving weatherization improvements with measures that help to improve the home environments for children and adults who have asthma (such as ventilation, green cleaning kits, vacuums, carpet-flooring replacement, dust mite covers, and air flow sealing). The program partnered with community health education providers for client recruitment, assessment, and intensive home education and follow-up. The large majority of households reported better respiratory health, quality of life, and fewer medical visits, and implementation of follow-up activities. The program is now expanding across the entire state, with 15 local agencies investing an additional $1.3 million for more than 300 homes.

CONCLUSION: LET US BEGIN The CESBS Summit was the beginning of what we hope to be a massive culture shift. We envision a country in which building projects and processes dismantle systemic forms of oppression and empower all community members to thrive within their homes and neighborhoods. We aspire to accessible, attainable, quality buildings for all people, regardless of their race, gender identity, class, ability, sexual orientation, religion, citizenship status, and beyond. Our buildings will uphold our identities and sense of place, encourage self-expression and joy, and protect families from changing environmental conditions. Our buildings will not inhibit our potential, but instead heal us and provide a strong foundation to lead full, impactful lives.

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Our kickoff summit was designed for active and participatory dialogue, agenda setting, and action planning with NAACP state and local leaders, as well as outside partners. Our engagement doesn’t stop at conferences; we invite you to participate in our shared work by:

Amplifying the outcomes and stories from the Summit and this report with your networks

Signing up to participate in ongoing working groups and education opportunities

Identifying existing champions and cultivating new ones across sectors to help carry

forward the initiative

Contributing stories and ideas for CESBS materials

Together, we will establish and uphold the principles, policies, programs, and practices that center equity in the sustainable building sector.

---

With thanks, Derrick Johnson President and CEO

Jacqui Patterson Senior Director, Environmental and Climate Justice Program

Mandy Lee Program Manager, CESBS Initiative

Revolution is about the need to re-evolve political, economic and

social justice and power back into the hands of the people,

preferably through legislation and policies that make human sense.

Bobby Seale

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END NOTES

1 "Indoor Air Quality." EPA. July 16, 2018. Accessed June 11, 2019. http://www.epa.gov/report-environment/indoor-air-quality. 2 "U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis." RECS: One in Three U.S. Households Faced Challenges in Paying Energy Bills in 2015. https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/reports/2015/energybills/. 3 Ibid. 4 "Decarbonizing U.S. Buildings." Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. July 25, 2018. https://www.c2es.org/document/decarbonizing-u-s-buildings/. 5 "Vulnerable Populations." Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. https://ibhs.org/public-policy/vulnerable-populations/. 6 Dwyer-Lindgren, Laura, et al. "Inequalities in Life Expectancy Among US Counties." JAMA Internal Medicine. July 01, 2017. Accessed June 11, 2019. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2626194. 7 "National Vital Statistics System - United States Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates Project - USALEEP." National Center for Health Statistics. August 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/usaleep/usaleep.html. 8 Vierra, Stephanie. "Green Building Standards and Certification Systems ." Whole Building Design Guide. May 06, 2019. https://www.wbdg.org/resources/green-building-standards-and-certification-systems. 9 Diversity in the Profession of Architecture. PDF. Washington, DC: The American Institute of Architects, 2016. 10 "Home Health Hazards." Green & Healthy Homes Initiative. https://www.greenandhealthyhomes.org/home-and-health/home-health-hazards/. 11 Allen, Joseph G., Ari Bernstein, and H. H. Building Evidence for Health: The 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building. PDF. Boston: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2017. 12 Ibid. 13 "WELL V2™ Pilot." WELL. https://v2.wellcertified.com/v/en/overview. 14 National Center for Environmental Health Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services. Health Issues Related to Community Design. PDF. Washington, DC: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 2006. 15 Protecting Renters from Displacement and Unhealthy and Climate-Vulnerable Housing. PDF. Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge. 16 Forno, Erick, and Juan C. Celedon. "Asthma and Ethnic Minorities: Socioeconomic Status and beyond." Current Opinion in Allergy and Clinical Immunology. April 2009. Accessed June 11, 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3920741/. 17 Moody, Heather, Joe T. Darden, and Bruce Wm. Pigozzi. The Racial Gap in Childhood Blood Lead Levels Related to Socioeconomic Position of Residence in Metropolitan Detroit. PDF. American Sociological Association, 2016. 18 Sampson, Robert J., and Alix S. Winter. The Racial Ecology of Lead Poisoning: Toxic Inequality in Chicago Neighborhoods, 1995-2013. PDF. Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, 2016. 19 Bullard, R. “Equity, Unnatural Man-Made Disasters, and Race: Why Environmental Justice Matters.” Equity and the Environment Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, 2007, 51–85., doi:10.1016/s0196-1152(07)15002-x. 20 Maxwell, Connor. "America's Sordid Legacy on Race and Disaster Recovery." Race and Ethnicity. April 05, 2018. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2018/04/05/448999/americas-sordid-legacy-race-disaster-recovery/. 21 "What Is Mitigation?" FEMA. https://www.fema.gov/what-mitigation. 22 "What Are Protected Homes and Communities?" FEMA. https://www.fema.gov/what-are-protected-homes-and-communities-0. 23 "U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis." Consumption & Efficiency. Accessed June 11, 2019. http://www.eia.gov/consumption/.

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24 “Green Communities.” Enterprise Community Partners, 2019, www.enterprisecommunity.org/solutions-and-innovation/green-communities. 25 Ibid. 26 "Public Policy Library." USGBC. https://public-policies.usgbc.org/. 27 Gittlin, Madisen, Chathurika Thenuwara, and Walker Wells. 2017 QAP Analysis: Green Building Criteria in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Programs. PDF. Global Green USA, November 2017. 28 Toles O’Laughlin, Tamara. "Go Big or ‘no Home’: We Need Green Amendments in State Constitutions." Forum. April 3, 2019. Accessed June 11, 2019. https://www.bayjournal.com/article/go_big_constitutional_amendment_needed_for_climate_change. 29 "2019 County Health Rankings Key Findings Report." County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. 2019. Accessed June 11, 2019. http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/reports/2019-county-health-rankings-key-findings-report. 30 "Data & Resources." NCARB. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://www.ncarb.org/data-resources/ncarb-by-the-numbers. 31 "Commemorating 50 Years: Whitney M. Young Jr.’s 1968 AIA Convention Speech." AIA. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://www.aia.org/resources/189666-commemorating-50-years. 32 Fairchild, Denise, and Kalima Rose. Inclusive Procurement and Contracting: Building a Field of Policy and Practice. PDF. Washington, DC: Emerald Cities Collaborative, February 2018. http://files.emeraldcities.org/media/news/Inclusive_procurement_report_03.28.18.pdf 33 "Equitable Development Toolkit." Equity Tools. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://edtk.policylink.org/. 34 "Cooperative Energy Futures." Cooperative Energy Futures. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://cooperativeenergyfutures.com/. 35 "Anchor Institutions Help Build Community Health, Wealth, Climate Resilience." Emerald Cities Collaborative. December 4, 2017. Accessed June 12, 2019. http://emeraldcities.org/media/news/anchors-in-resilient-communities-arc-case-studies-now-available. 36 Kusnetz, Nicholas. "New York City Sets Ambitious Climate Rules for Its Biggest Emitters: Buildings." InsideClimate News. April 18, 2019. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/18042019/new-york-city-climate-solutions-buildings-energy-efficiency-jobs-low-income-greenhouse-gases. 37 "Action on Global Warming: NYC's Green New Deal." NYC. April 22, 2019. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/209-19/action-global-warming-nyc-s-green-new-deal#/0. 38 "By the Numbers." Craft3. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://www.craft3.org/results/by-the-numbers#subp. 39 "Illinois Solar for All." Illinois Solar for All. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://www.illinoissfa.com/. 40 "Illinois Solar for All Resources." Illinois Solar Energy Association. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://www.illinoissolar.org/Illinois-Solar-for-All. 41 "Land Bank Community Revitalization Initiative (Land Bank CRI)." Initiatives. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://ag.ny.gov/feature/land-bank-community-revitalization-initiative-land-bank-cri. 42 "Community Design Studio: Building Resilience through Partnerships." Community Design Studio. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://gccds.org/our-work. 43 Richmond, Terrell, and Nina Lobo. "Groundswell Builds Community Power." Groundswell. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://groundswell.org/. 44 "Weatherization Plus Health (Wx H)." Department of Commerce. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://www.commerce.wa.gov/growing-the-economy/energy/weatherization-and-energy-efficiency/matchmaker/weatherization-plus-health-wxh/.