At long last, solar energy is being scaled for widespread use by low-income residents. Community HousingWorks, a LISC partner and affordable housing developer in San Diego County, is leading the charge.
What does a solar-powered home look like? If images of affordable rental housing don’t come to mind, they should.
For decades, the benefits of solar energy were only accessible to the well-to-do, because solar panels were prohibitively expensive, and the process of integrating power from sunlight into the utilities grid was complex and costly. But in recent years, the price of equipment and installation has dropped 70 percent, and the solar gap is beginning to close. More and more, affordable housing developers are taking advantage of new technology and government incentives to retrofit buildings with solar. In addition to the boon to the environment, the resulting dip in utility costs helps owners of affordable properties ensure their viability and provides crucial savings for renters trying to make ends meet.
In southern California, Community HousingWorks (CHW), a LISC San Diego partner of 20 years, is at the vanguard of turning multifamily, low-income buildings into solar energy generators—and users. CHW builds and manages attractive, affordable living communities across San Diego County that incorporate after-school, financial education and leadership training for tenants. In 2007, they built the first low-income, multifamily building in the country to be fully powered by solar energy. "That was the beginning of the journey," says CHW's long-time director, Sue Reynolds. Now, renewable energy is part of the organization’s m.o.—a tool to trim tenants’ utility bills as well as their own.
“Bringing the value of solar to low-income housing is a scalable model that solves big problems” says Sochiata Vutthy, senior asset manager for CHW. “It’s one way to keep costs down and predictable, so that people can manage the household balance sheet, gain some stability and live with dignity. Environmental consciousness and savings shouldn’t be restricted to one group of people.”
By the end of 2016, Community HousingWorks will be powering 2300 homes with solar energy, and has already cut residents’ monthly utility bills by as much as half or more. Those conversions, moreover, will account for nearly five percent of a federal goal to install a gigawatt of solar energy—that’s about 700,000 homes' worth of power—in affordable housing across the United States by 2020. CHW has pulled this off by leveraging state incentive programs when they’re available, as well as through financing from partners at Everyday Energy, which specializes in developing solar systems for multifamily affordable housing, and SolarCity, one of the country's largest solar energy companies.
Since 2004, LISC has invested upwards of $800,000 in CHW’s residential communities. But the primary support for the solar initiative comes via AmeriCorps members, who have acted as project managers and organizers, bringing invaluable person power and technical assistance to the projects, according to Reynolds.
Wayne Holley, a former systems analyst and two-time LISC AmeriCorps member, is overseeing his sixth solar conversion for CHW. On a recent morning at Bandar Salaam, a housing complex where many Somali refugee families live in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, he chatted with tenants and explained the workings of the inverter boxes: these turn the DC wattage generated by the solar collectors into AC wattage compatible with the utility company grid. The energy is sold to San Diego Gas & Electric, who in turn gives a rebate to CHW that is passed on to the tenants, thus lowering their monthly bills.
Holley’s passion for the technology is palpable as he points out the solar panels mounted on carports shading parking lot, and on the roofs of the complex. “This is a way that residents can really have some independence from the highs and lows of the [utilities] system,” he says. “And if it spreads, you could have entire low-income neighborhoods that don’t need to rely on the grid.”
Holley and other AmeriCorps members also played a vital role in informing legislators about energy usage in low-income housing. Last year, they supported CHW residents in signing waivers that allowed the state to monitor energy use—ultimately smoothing the way for metering agreements and rebates for the solar energy their buildings generate.
The savings and carbon offset of solar is especially dramatic in the inland areas of California, where summer temperatures hover in the 100s and air conditioning is a fact of life. Carole Dills moved to Poway, CA, in the sunbaked hills northeast of San Diego, when long-term disability made living in the mountains of her native Hawaii too challenging. With no income beyond her benefits, and needing an accessible apartment near public transit, shopping and other services, her options in the sprawling, car-centric county were strictly limited.
After a long wait (there’s a severe affordable housing shortage in San Diego, where over half a million people live in poverty), Dills scored a ground-floor unit in CHW’s Park View Terrace complex. There’s a lot to love about the place: the cozy, one-bedroom apartment in a stucco duplex surrounded by shade trees and shrubs opens on to a private a patio where she grows succulents and cacti, and it’s within walking distance of a supermarket, post office and bank. The library and the bus stop are across the street. At the top of her list of amenities, though, are the solar panels on the roof of her building, and covering porticos that shade the parking area. “There are times when my utility bill is only four dollars a month,” says Dills. “That means I have money in my budget for food, or to go out with my friends.”
As someone who grew up attuned to her natural surroundings, Dills is totally onboard with the conservation ethos. (In drought-parched San Diego County, water conservation is central to CHW’s program, too: Dills waters her plants with gray water, and carefully times her showers.) But many residents need some guidance on the path to solar conversion, and Holley and others educate renters about what to expect from the conversion.
“People ask about what happens if there’s no sun for four days, or where they’re going to park during construction, or whether they’re going to have enough power to run their coffee maker,” says Vutthy. “But for the most part, they’re excited. Especially when they see the bill.” Typically, energy costs plummet after the first month of solar conversion.
Solar power still only accounts for one percent of our nation's energy use. But it's a start. And in an uncertain world, reliable savings from solar energy provides CHW’s tenants with peace of mind. As Sue Reynolds puts it, “when you’re measuring out your dollars with a teaspoon, predictability is huge.”