Co-Chairs of the Sustainable Community Planning Working Group Mark Holzman, CMHC, and Eric
Meeting Summary
Sustainable Housing and Communities Working Group
Monday, May 4, 2009
Toronto, Ontario
Co-chairs of the Sustainable Housing and Communities Working Group Mark Holzman, CMHC, and François Dubrous, Natural Resources Canada, summarized the afternoon’s agenda. Participants were advised the meeting was available on live video webcast.
Presentation: Now House™ Type Retrofits in Windsor
Following round table introductions, the first speaker, Jim Steele, CEO, Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation, began his presentation. The Corporation (WECHC) was established on January 1, 2007, and combines several groups including the Windsor-Essex County Housing Corporation, City of Windsor Non-Profit Housing Corporation, and City of Windsor Housing Company Limited.
The mission of WECHC is to provide well maintained, safe, affordable community housing in a respectful and fair manner. WECHC aims to be a leader in the housing sector and contribute to the development and support of strong communities in the City of Windsor and the County of Essex.
Mr. Steele explained the vision is to work collaboratively, to promote/develop healthy communities, to balance financial capacity with needs and priorities, to promote a culture of learning and to be accountable and innovative. He continued by highlighting both the values and strategies of WECHC.
Mr. Steele provided some quick facts about the housing stock by stating there are over 4,700 units in 700 buildings under direct management. Four of these buildings alone represent one-third of the portfolio.
Current challenges include capital investment, underfunding, and an aging stock constructed between 1950–1980. However, WECHC has been aided by a big push for poverty reduction supported by the city’s Mayor and the county’s Warden.
Mr. Steele explained that the word ‘sustainability’ has not always been part of WECHC’s vocabulary nevertheless similar wording has encouraged employees to pursue this goal.
WECHC’s first sustainable initiative was a pilot in their largest building, 400-units located at 920 Ouellette Avenue. It contains the world’s largest residential solar wall that was installed in 1994. At the time cost-savings was the goal. Today it is the most efficient social housing building in Ontario at .90/square foot.
Since the 1994 installation of the solar wall, the building has also been equipped with a building automation system, new boilers, a heat recovery system, new windows and water saving devices. This has been part of a long-range plan that depends on cost savings as the selling feature for politicians and boards of directors. For example, 920 Ouellette has seen a reduction in energy costs of 25%, or a gas bill reduced by $60,000. This program is now being transferred to 2-storey walk-ups.
Tenant engagement is also important in making these initiatives work. For example, the Brien Avenue project unites younger tenants and seniors in a community garden project.
The Now House™ Windsor 5 project is a new project that will use GHG reductions as a target. CHC projects up to 8 tonnesof GHG reductions per home. The community at large will benefit by gaining access to templates for similar DIY retrofits. Sponsors have supported theWindsor 5 demonstration homes with appliances or services. To raise awareness within the community, WECHC arranged a street party that brought out families and businesses. It is hoped this experience may be potentially applied to WECHC’s other 125 wartime houses.
Ultimately the sustainability goals are to reduce operating costs and some tenant costs, to improve communications and education for tenants and to build partnerships with Ontario Power Authority and the local power authority, the homebuilders’ association and local builders and suppliers.
There are five challenges and distinct needs moving forward – R&D, a consistent software platform for social housing providers, program sustainability that should equal ‘real’ sustainability, redevelopment over the next 10–20 years cannot be overlooked, and tenant engagement cannot be overstated.
Next steps will be to promote the five homes and the products used on the WECHC website. One home will remain empty for one year as a demonstration site.
Presentation: Toronto Housing Green Plan Initiatives
Keir Brownstone, Manager, Green Plan, Toronto Community Housing, explained that TCHC’s philosophy behind its green plan initiatives are largely financial given the immense water and energy bills they are faced with and the fact that 95% of tenants do not pay utilities. Any money saved is returned into one pool, not into each building.
TCHC is the largest social housing provider in Canada with 58,000 units in its portfolio. The average age of the buildings is 41 years. Early on TCHC committed to being an environmental leader in their sector. Their initial 2004 Green Plan was largely based on Kyoto targets. In 2006, a 40% emissions reduction target by 2020 was adopted to support the City’s aggressive green initiative.
The foundations of the program are sustainability, engagement and procurement. In the housing context the E3 model of environment, equity and economy must be taken into account. This means engaging the community and creating partnerships to encourage changes in behaviour. To engage tenants a “Community Gardening Manual” was created. A similar “What does a Green Office Look Like” booklet was produced for staff.
Cultivating a green culture extends to green procurement procedures and staff is encouraged to ask serious questions before making procurement decisions.
The Building Renewal Program is the largest initiative to have taken place. It consists of 19 highrise developments (7,500 units) now in Phase II, a single family house program that used Energuide retrofits, individual unit refurbishments with a focus on tenant-specified kitchens and bathrooms, an appliance program to replace fridges and stoves with Energy Star appliances, a light bulb program that replaced 160,000 in-unit light bulbs, and a low flow water program that replaced shower heads and faucet aerators with low flow models. Incentives came from various sources that include the City of Toronto and Toronto Hydro.
Renewable energy will be tested in a solar thermal installation, a solar roof pilot and a wind study.
Substantial outcomes have been achieved from reduced emissions and utility cost containment – over 20,000 tonnes of GHG emissions per year and over one million cubic metres of water have been saved.
Mr. Brownstone stressed that infrastructure money must be spent wisely as this is key to moving forward. He cited passive housing design as one area to save water and waste. More ideas must be brought in from other areas of the world.
A significant waste management program engages tenants, agencies, and stakeholders and revolves around the blue bag program. A Community Animation program includes 50 trained tenants who work within their buildings to talk to neighbours about recycling and sustainability. Trainers promote the benefits of recycling and outcomes have shown increased tenant participation.
Future asset regeneration will continue with Phase II of Regent Park revitalization set to launch this summer. There are six phases in total. The heart of the project is a District Energy System that neighbouring communities can plug into. It will be ground-breaking in many ways. 92 Carlton Street is a renewable energy project and a showcase building that will have a green roof in addition to solar thermal components.
As Mr. Brownstone explained the weak links are often the education components for tenants and staff. The goal in city building is to enable everyone to participate in the program – staff, suppliers and tenants.
Presentation: TorontoTower Renewal Initiative
Eleanor McAteer, Project Director, City of Toronto, defined the Tower Renewal Project as a program to drive broad environmental, social, economic and cultural change by improving Toronto’s concrete apartment towers and the neighbourhoods that surround them.
The idea for the program was brought to Mayor Miller’s attention by ERA Architects and the University of Toronto. It fits well with the City’s greater sustainability goals that include GHG reduction targets, rapid transit initiatives, economic sustainability, safety programs and public realm objectives.
The Tower Renewal Program is now about execution. There are over 1,000 towers in Toronto, which places it second to New York. The majority of towers were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. At that time the construction of many of the buildings received financial assistance from CMHC. The buildings were built well and now the City needs these apartments to function well.
Ms. McAteer explained that city planners of the day surrounded the towers with space to keep them separate from low-density housing. Today the space is largely unused and fenced off. The goal is to create better use of this space with community gardens and other uses such as retail development.
The Tower Program will benefit local neighbourhoods and ultimately impact the entire city. The focus will be on people, residents, site and community. Sustainability measures will include thermal recladding that will provide significant energy savings, solar water heating, water efficiency, local food production, energy supply and geo exchange heating, recycling and waste management systems, lighting system upgrades, and community safety audits. The new Torontogreen roof bylaw will have significant impact. The integration of these measures will produce efficient results at the best price.
Many partners are involved including CMHC, Toronto Atmospheric Fund, University of Toronto, SenecaCollege’s Revitalization Institute, United Way, Greater Toronto Apartment Association and Central Ontario Building Trades.
Ms. McAteer explained the various opportunities that include lowering GHG emissions by 300,000 tonnes per year as significant additions to the overall target.
Four tower sites will take part in the pilot – two are privately owned, one is CAP REIT owned and one is owned by Toronto Community Housing. Each site has different characteristics that will provide opportunities for small business start-ups, bike programs and access to parklands. Tenant engagement will play an important role in sustainability. Requirements are for units to remain affordable and that tenants will not have to leave during the construction phase.
At the conclusion of the pilot program in September 2010, there will be a rollout to the entire city. As head of the C-40 largest cities in the world committed to climate leadership, Mayor Miller hopes that the commonalities that unite all buildings will ensure sustainability efforts going forward.
Round Table Member Update
Carla Rhody, Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, spoke on the proposed Green Energy Act that will include energy retrofits to social housing and changes to the building code. The Ministry is leading the way to see that energy efficiency and incentives are being incorporated into new and renovated affordable housing projects and federal funding is tied to this. The Ontario government has provided funding to the social housing corporation and setting up a centre of excellence in asset management.
Elizabeth Debicka, Nunavut Housing Corporation, reported that work continues with CMHC on delivering structural insulated panels in buildings to see how they perform in the north from an energy standpoint.
Duncan Hill, CMHC, announced that the three new EQuilibrium™ projects – Harmony House in Burnaby, Green Dream home in Kamloops and Moncton Vision in Moncton – would break ground this year. To date there are six houses under demonstration with two more expected to be completed by year end. A variety of information products will be available such as technology profiles for the EQuilibriumTM homes. Builder forums will take place in Montreal and Edmonton where EQuilibriumTM builders can exchange information with the industry. CMHC and NRCan are working to get the first Canadian Weatherization Conference off the ground in October 2009 in Toronto.
Dan Troke, Nova Scotia Department of Community Services, advised that an interim policy on new construction has been adopted which all new multi-unit construction will follow. Agreement for the Extension of the Affordable Housing initiative and stimulus funding will see a retrofit of 8,000 social housing units over the next two years. A key component will be to target co-ops and non-profits. A new program providing assistance in capital and repairs has been created and one-third will be used for energy upgrades of all units. Testing and recommendations are underway. New building construction will explore LEED certification.
François Pagé, StatsCan, referred members to the biennial Household and Environment Survey that complements today’s meeting with new data on energy use, new light bulbs, water conservation, etc. and trends in consumer market for energy savings. Data from 2007 has been released.
Graham Watts, Social Housing Services Corporation,spoke on behalf of Lindsey Reed. The Asset Management Centre is a round table of all levels of government that looks at developing standards to assess the state of social housing and make repairs. It is a 2-year undertaking that has just begun. Mr. Watt referred members to to view a tenant engagement film funded by Toronto Hydro. SHSC is presently collecting capital reserve and asset data to put into practices and this research will rollout shortly.
François Dubrous, Natural Resources Canada, said that the vision is for a new program dedicated to sustainable communities. In preparation three projects are underway: 1) A roadmap for the government of Canada looking at policies and measures to support the communities of the future, 2) Energy characterization of communities to benchmark the state of where communities are now, and 3) A joint CMHC and NRCan initiative to demonstrate sustainable communities.
Mark Holzman, CMHC, referred to an inventory of community best practices that reviewed 150 documents and provides short assessments of 95 ‘how-to’ guidance documents for sustainable planning. Two CMHC research reports are available: 1) A report on Smart Growth principles and livable and sustainable communities for seniors, and 2) A report on government imposed charges, levies, fees, taxes, that are collected on new housing in Canada. Together with NRCan, CMHC has completed a project to develop indicators of sustainability at the community scale. These will be used to set some of the criteria for a new sustainable community demonstration initiative that CMHC and NRCan will launch in the near future.
Wrap-Up
The committee was reminded of the NHRC fall meeting on November 2–4, 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ottawa. It will be in conjunction with the Housing Student Achievement Awards dinner.
The meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m. and members were encouraged to participate in the bus tour. The itinerary included Chinatown and the Annex, a walking tour of Wychwood Barns (Artscape) and a stop at 92 Carlton Street, part of Phase 1 of the RegentPark redevelopment. The tour continued past St. Lawrence Market, the Distillery District and along Queen’s Quay to view the mix of condominium projects, tourist area and the Gardiner Expressway.
Sustainable Housing and Communities Working Group: Summary of Spring 2009 Meeting1