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In today’s housing market, sustainable features are often a hallmark of luxury development. But in Minnesota, a new housing development is proving affordability and sustainability can go hand in hand.
Just south of St. Petersburg, Florida, a newly built development is the picture of sustainable luxury. Twelve of the development’s solar-equipped, highly efficient homes have been operating for three months, and they’ve continually generated more power than they consume.
But the Florida homes’ seven-figure asking prices aren’t in everyone’s budget. Enter Hillcrest Village, in the southern Minnesota city of Northfield.
The development looks like a collection of well-built new homes — and that’s the point, project developer Brian Nowak told the Energy News Network.
“They have a certain percentage [of] workforce housing; another percentage is transitional in emergency housing,” Nowak said of the homes. “And they didn’t want the people that were in transition in their lives or in crisis to feel like they were walking into a home that was a science experiment or an art project.”
The single-family homes are all equipped with solar power, energy efficiency features, and electric heating, cooling and appliances. Those measures should keep utility bills low for low-income residents, who will also pay below-median rents.
Hillcrest Village is among a number of projects helping undo the notion that affordable housing requires shoddy construction and materials. But with its mix of public and private funding, Hillcrest also shows that government investment is often needed to make sure housing is both affordable and high quality.
Read more about Hillcrest Village — and what public housing authorities can learn from it — at the Energy News Network.
P.S. We’re taking a break next week for Independence Day. We’ll see you again on July 12!
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