Stevens Street

Challenge

Non-conforming parcels are often small or irregularly-shaped, making them sub-optimal for construction and potentially in violation of modern zoning regulations. However, through either purchase or donation, many not-for-profit housing providers hold such land in their portfolio, where they continue to pay property taxes and maintenance costs. 

Opportunity

The benefits of utilizing non-conforming lots can range from infilling/densifying existing neighborhoods, expanding local tax base, and locating more housing near resources and services. The smaller footprint of the Rural Studio homes allow housing providers to introduce a new home prototype, potentially unlocking additional parcels and expanding the housing provider’s client base. As municipalities explore ways to provide attainable housing, harnessing non-conforming parcels can potentially increase access to housing while simultaneously increasing the local tax base.

Response

Auburn-Opelika Habitat for Humanity (AOHFH) built a series of homes in a local community but was unable to place homes on two parcels in the neighborhood, as the irregularly-shaped lots where too small for the footprint of their typical house prototype. 

By utilizing a two-bed, one bath Rural Studio home with a smaller footprint, AOHFH was able to fit the house within the existing setbacks, eliminating the need for a zoning variance. Also, while the homes address the street, a shed for garden tools was sited and designed to have a roof pitch that maximized solar orientation.

Implementation

Stevens Street

Challenge

Many of the sites given to or purchased by nonprofit builders like Habitat for Humanity are not optimized for construction and can be costly to develop, so these lands remain in the organization’s portfolio, where the organization continues to pay property tax and maintenance costs.

Opportunity & Response

The smaller footprint and foundation type options of the Product Line Homes to negotiate a variety of site conditions and soil types.

Implementation

Stevens Street

Air Serenbe

Challenge

Residential zoning regulations serve a purpose of regulating sufficient access of dwellings to air, light, and fire protection. Zoning also allows communities to plan for adequate infrastructure and community facilities. However, zoning has also historically been used as a tool of exclusion, a means to “zone out” and disenfranchise certain populations and communities. The prints of this history are still visible in communities today. In one example, it has been found that lot sizes in a historically Black neighborhood are smaller than lots in other parts of town. With modern lot coverage and floor area ratios, it can be challenging to develop these smaller parcels without combining multiple parcels. This further disenfranchises certain, targeted, areas of cities by reducing the number of citizens living in these areas. 

Opportunity & Response

The smaller footprint of the Product Line Homes allows them to fit on smaller parcels, maintaining a higher number of housing units and, therefore, a higher number of homeownership opportunities within the community. Increasing homeownership opportunity has proven to increased access, increases the tax base, and increases community participation, engagement, and investment. Perhaps more importantly, research shows that the impact on civic engagement and investment is greatest for low- and mid-income homeowners.

Implementation

Stevens Street

Chipola

Unaka

Joint Center

HUD

Urban Affairs Institute

Challenge

Some low-wealth borrowers do not meet traditional lending requirements because of a lower-than-allowed credit score, and traditional mortgage lenders understandably require potential borrowers to become “credit worthy” before they are considered for a mortgage. While a low credit score can indicate an unacceptable level of risk for a lender, it may also be reflective of a credit shortfall caused by collateral challenges due to the potential borrower being inadequately housed. While these are the potential homeowners that have the most to gain from the obligations of service by depository institutions, this gap between a buyer’s existing credit profile and a traditional lender’s ability assess risk based on the particular circumstances of that buyer is most often insurmountable.

Opportunity & Response

“Housing First” not-for-profits (NFPs) that work locally in the communities they serve have a better ability to consider the extenuating or mitigating circumstances of a specific borrower. For example, a mortgage candidate may have a low credit score because they are unbanked or underbanked. Local NFPs have the unique capacity to work with individuals on a case-by-case basis to first get them into secure housing and then spend time “seasoning up” the homeowner’s credit and financial literacy such that they can be transitioned to a more conventional mortgage product. There is a clear opportunity here for traditional lenders to partner with these NFPs strategically to develop a type of “step-up” program in which the NFP assumes the initial housing risk but leverages resources already developed by the lender to provide the necessary homeowner education and counseling to maintain lower than average delinquency rates.

Implementation

Myrtle

Stevens

Chipola

Challenge

In the traditional home procurement process “affordability” is a simple function of reducing what a home costs to build, with little-to-no consideration of what value and savings the integration of “beyond code” or “green” construction provides to the homeowner. Building to beyond code standards certainly increases the cost of home construction, but simultaneously provides month after month and year after year savings through a reduction in energy bills, insurance costs, and the like. There is currently no provision for how these post-occupancy monthly savings might be leveraged to reconsider the financing and monthly mortgage carry of the homeowner, and thus such upgrades are most often perceived of as unaffordable. 

Opportunity & Response

Some not-for-profit housing providers are set up to consider the total cost of homeownership. For example, since Habitat for Humanity is in control of the project financing (both construction financing and the mortgage for the homeowner), they are able to work in an integrated construction and finance model, considering building performance in the total cost of homeownership. Rural Studio provides up front predictive energy modeling, testing and verification during construction, and ongoing post-occupancy monitoring and homeowner education to ensure the high-performance capabilities of the homes are both met and maintained. Where housing partners are in control of both construction and financing, the information developed through this process increasingly allows our housing providers to integrate the high-performance savings into their overall housing finance and delivery strategy.

Implementation

Stevens

Challenge

Beyond-code building performance provides a demonstrated value-add that enhances home value. However due to the uneven nature of appraiser training and understanding of this increased value (particularly in rural areas where comparables may not yet exist), this increase in appraised value is not always realized.

Opportunity & Response

Equally critical to building high-performance homes is working with appraisers to ensure that the value of the performance features is incorporated into the assessed value of the home. Rural Studio currently works directly with local appraisers on a project-by-project basis to communicate this enhanced value. As our housing partner network continues to expand, it is increasingly necessary to provide informational resources for appraisers so that they value high-performance homes for their full worth.

Implementation

Stevens

Wharf

Challenge

Some energy consumption in a home is heavily influenced by the way homes are designed and constructed – or by the “building envelope” of the home – while other energy use is dictated by occupant use and habits. While some costs can be controlled by the building design, homeowners must also be educated on how to efficiently use their homes. For example, a tight, well-insulated home will require less energy to heat and cool than a comparable house with more air leakage and less insulation; the envelope drives energy needed to heat and cool. By contrast, plug loads, or energy use from items plugged into outlets (televisions, computers, hair dryers, etc.) is driven by the occupant.

Opportunity & Response

Rural Studio clearly differentiates what we can control through design and construction and what we can control through homeowner education and awareness. Energy modeling during the home design process can help housing providers and their clients understand the expected energy use – and, therefore, predicted costs – for envelope-driven systems such as heating, cooling, and ventilation. Post-occupancy monitoring ensures that these systems are operating as modeled. Additionally, post-occupancy monitoring allows Rural Studio to continue to actively engage with the housing provider and homeowner, and to provide the ongoing education necessary to help occupants understand how to use their homes more efficiently and reduce energy use and maintenance costs.

Response

Front Porch Initiative continues to collect ongoing energy use data on two houses constructed to beyond-code standards with Auburn-Opelika Habitat for Humanity (AOHFH). As energy to condition and ventilate the house decreases with more efficient systems, the share of energy devoted to plug loads becomes a larger share of overall energy use.

Implementation

Stevens Street

Challenge

Incentives for on-site power generation vary from location to location, often dictated by the local energy provider.

Opportunity & Response

Advocating for policies that incentivize on-site energy generation can greatly decrease the cost for installing energy generation systems. For example, excess energy generated by photovoltaic (PV) panels, also known as solar panels, can either be sent back to the energy grid, or stored in batteries. Energy providers that offer bi-directional meters, which allows excess power to flow to the grid, greatly reduce system costs to the homeowner.

Implementation

Stevens Street