Affordable Housing: Going Above and Beyond with New Innovations

As I looked through different housing projects on Affordable Housing Design Advisor, what really struck me was how this innovative thought process focused on creating better more livable and sustainable affordable housing really makes diverse living styles available to people that would otherwise not exist. It is not just that these projects make these experiences available to people with lower incomes; in reality they are creating new living experiences altogether. One facet of these communities that I saw exemplified in all the projects I looked at was an intense focus on community building and participation. 

In the Murphy Ranch project there are walkways that meander through the development, separate from vehicular traffic and allowing extensive access to all parts of the community. There are also office spaces, meeting rooms, community kitchens and more. I am betting that reason a lot of these amenities were put in place were not necessarily just to help strengthen the community, like the computer lab was probably put in place for families that do not have access to their own computer or wifi, but amenities like this bring people together and may lead to occupant run classes and tutoring and business and more. 

Another thing that I really enjoyed seeing was how these developments were designed first to fill a need of affordable housing, but without that label on them, you might just think that someone was designing this housing only to meet a goal of sustainability. Every project goes above and beyond with multitudes of “green features”. The Bridgeton Revitalization project boasts sustainable design aspects as deceptively simple as large windows and deep eaves (passive heating and cooling), and some more technical aspects like sustainable appliances and fixtures, and panelized construction. The Cobb Hill project has created yet another amazing community ideal. The community was designed to incorporate the agricultural landscape that surrounds it and aid in new organic farming ventures. What I really liked seeing in the project was how it restored preexisting farms, which included barns and farmhouses. They even included grey water collection and reuse into the design!: "Cobb Hill utilizes  70% less water than   Vermont standards require."