Green Building
NEF Invests More Than $400MM in "Green"
Some people are surprised to find the affordable housing industry at the forefront of innovative, environmentally sound development, but our efforts have long been about high-quality, high-impact projects, the kind that help build dynamic sustainable communities, the kind that anchor long-term growth and nurture local opportunity.
At NEF, we have been fueling life-changing low-income housing for more than 20 years, with projects like SOLARA (below) and Near North Apartments, an acclaimed Chicago SRO and winner of an AHF Readers Choice Award in 2007. Both are standouts for the quality of their housing and resident services, but they are also among the greenest projects in the country.
Special Report: Building Green Sustainable Communities
NEF and our parent, LISC, have together invested $440 million in grants, loans and equity in a wide range of green projects, the majority of which involve affordable housing. Green is part of LISC’s broader Building Sustainable Communities agenda to make low-income communities good places to live, work, do business and raise families. Read more about how LISC and NEF are supporting green building, green energy and green jobs that have a clear on-the-ground impact in the places we work. Read more about how we are working to build sustainable communities.
Green Portfolio
NEF Equity Finances "Green" Supportive Housing Development
The $19 million Verne Barry Place offers permanent supportive housing to homeless and 
disabled residents, including veterans, in and around Grand Rapids, Mich.
This renovation-and-new construction project preserves three existing historic structures and links them with a newly built LEED- certified “green” building. Read more.
NEF has a diverse portfolio of green investments. View more projects.
Green Development Center
LISC's Green Development Center provides financial resources, technical information, partnership opportunities, and education to LISC programs and the community development field to support the use of green design, construction, and management principles in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Learn more.
Green Rehab Guide for Multifamily Properties
The Green Guide for Rehab is an accessible and in-depth tool to help affordable housing owners and their consultants integrate green building and energy efficiency into the upgrades of their multifamily properties. Bay Area LISC developed the guide with Build It Green, a Berkeley based non-profit organization promoting healthy and energy efficient housing. The 58-page guide contains four sections – site condition and systems, building construction, mechanical systems and interior spaces – with advice on incorporating the green building principles of energy efficiency, water conservation, resource conservation, and healthy indoor environments. It also looks at the cost and cost-effectiveness of green strategies to assist affordable housing developers in making decisions about which measures to include in their rehab projects. Access the Guide.
SOLARA Apartments
SOLARA has been honored by The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition for
excellence in affordable housing 
for
its stunning design and extensive
use of green elements. The $16MM,
56-unit development in Poway, Calif. serves large families in an area facing recent
population growth, and is designed for maximum energy efficiency, with
100 percent of the project's electrical needs met by solar panels.
Read more about this project and its sponsor, Community Housing Works.