Toolkits + Resources

LISC Boston and New Ecology are excited to share this climate resiliency guide for communities facing extreme heat, flooding, and other climate-related risks. This guide overviews several actionable tools and strategies that Massachusetts housing owners and developers can use as they develop new construction or retrofit existing buildings for greater climate resiliency.

Over the past year, New Ecology Inc., with the support of LISC Boston, has evaluated hundreds of units of affordable housing in coastal Massachusetts. Looking through the lens of likely climate change threats, including extreme heat, sea level rise and storm surge, as well as stormwater flooding, the team evaluated how properties can support residents by preparing for and minimizing impacts.

Climate change conditions disproportionately impact low-income communities. Owners and operators of affordable multifamily housing are positioned to help mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on their residents while protecting their building investments through successful resilience planning. This memo outlines low-cost measures that affordable housing owners and managers can implement to protect people and buildings.

LISC created this Guide to help affordable housing owners define and pursue measures to reduce the use of energy, water, and harmful chemicals in their properties, reduce waste generated on site, create healthier living environments for residents, and reduce the carbon and environmental footprint associated with residential properties.

LISC has refined its Green + Healthy Asset Management Plan (GHAMP) materials to create portfolio-wide roadmaps to achieve sustainability goals. As part of these materials, our editable Green + Healthy Template enables owners to document short and long term goals around energy, water, and healthy property management.

LISC has refined its Green + Healthy Asset Management Plan (GHAMP) materials to help partners create portfolio-wide roadmaps to achieve sustainability goals. As part of these materials, our editable Green + Healthy Dashboard enables owners to document current usage and practices around energy, water, and healthy property management, and then describe future targets and new practices as well as record progress toward those goals.

LISC has updated its WegoWise® Primer, which helps affordable housing owners and property managers get started with online benchmarking of energy and water usage.

This toolkit is part of Two Shades of Green, an initiative that integrates green, healthy and cost-effective measures into affordable housing rehabilitation and property maintenance. The aim is to reduce asthma triggers, improve the health and wellness of residents and building staff, and help reduce energy and water usage and lower maintenance costs.

LISC has assembled all of the above materials, along with other relevant resources, into a comprehensive online portal of Green + Healthy Guides. Each Guide is catered to specific audiences (including owners, developers and managers; nonprofit intermediaries; and policymakers and advocates) to help them drive energy, water, and healthy housing related goals across their properties and/or portfolios.