The Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities (OSHC) is a new unit within the government’s Department of Housing and Urban Development. Funded by the 2010 federal budget, the OSHC was formed to create strong, sustainable communities by connecting housing to jobs, fostering local innovation, and helping to build a clean energy economy.
Trends in real estate toward more green, community focused living, also known as “new urbanism,” are bringing neighborhoods closer together and connecting living areas with commercial space, public services and employment centers.
OSHC seeks to tap into and encourage these growing trends to make more affordable, accessible living a reality for all Americans. To do this, the OSHC will bring together several government departments to offer new programs, services, even financing and grants to the general public.
Grants to Encourage More Sustainable Housing Developments
OSHC plans to partner with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to offer Sustainable Communities planning grants. These grants will be used to fund local agencies and developers who will create a system of integrated metropolitan transportation, housing, land use and energy planning. In so doing, these grants will allow a new generation of smart, affordable residential and commercial development, and help create more vibrant, livable communities.
Likewise, the Energy Innovation Fund will be used to create a green retrofitting market. This will not only help homeowners install energy efficient features in their existing homes, but it will also help to build new homes that use the latest in green technology. This program will make additional Energy Efficient Mortgages (EEM’s) available through the
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loan program, for both new home purchases and refinances.
Sustainable Communities Allow Homeowners to Save Money
The idea of sustainable, walkable housing is that it will cost homeowners less to live and work in a community developed with close-in access to public transportation, commercial shopping and job opportunities.
Further, as homes become more energy efficient and require less reliance on fossil fuels, utility bills will decrease. This, in turn, will allow homeowners to put more of their hard earned money into their pockets.
Visit LendingTree.com to complete a request for a home loan through the FHA insured loan program toward the purchase of your new energy efficient home.
Do you have any questions about how this new government office can help you live a more sustainable, community-centered lifestyle?
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I am so impressed with all the latest technology in geothermal energy-it makes so much sense using the natural resources under the earth for clean , efficient and renewable energy.Thanks for the information on your blog.
Here in the UK there are grants available for homeowners investing in renewable energy, but a notable step forward comes in the form of a new green loans scheme, announced this week.
These will be long-term loans, with repayments made on a ‘pay-as-you-save’ basis. The scheme has been designed to ensure that repayments are less than the borrower saves each month on energy bills. One positive result will be that a homeowner with energy efficient technology in place could benefit from extra monthly income even before the loan has been paid off.
This green loans announcement comes less than a month before the introduction of the Feed-in Tariff and is a welcome boost for companies such as SolarUK, which installs solar photovoltaic panels as well as manufacturing the LaZer2 solar hot water system. Householders are seeing solar energy as an increasingly cost competitive option against the backdrop of the general long-term trend of rising gas and electricity bills.
Jasper,
The UK green mortgage sounds interesting. The EEM mortgage from FHA here in the states allows for borrowing money for energy efficient fixtures and improvements, but that hasn’t reached the level of use that some other popular mortgage programs have reached.
As green technology and energy efficiency becomes more of the norm rather than the exception. One could certainly argue that the cost savings should be worked into the value of the home during an appraisal, if not the mortgage underwriting as well. The banks and the government will hopefully be able to figure out a mortgage program that takes into account the net present value of energy savings compared to the features’ costs.
Love the blog. I’ve been creating solar panels for small businesses for ages now and doing pretty well… Glad I found this place.
Thanks Asa. Check back soon, we’re adding a few more articles in the green space.