In the wake of Earth Day celebrations, the Canada Green Building Council released its new Affordable Green Housing Program, which will provide free green building registration and certification to charitable building projects. Working with charitable housing groups like Habitat for Humanity, these free registrations and certifications will be administered by the CaGBC under the LEED program, which addresses homes as well as a broad range of other building types.
The first project to take advantage of the Affordable Green Housing Program is the Sir Sam Steele project, a group of 32 homes that have been built by Habitat for Humanity Manitoba with the assistance of local LEED Canada for Homes Provider prairieHOUSE Performance, Inc. The homes were completed in three phases over three years, and have now been awarded LEED Gold certification.
“Through the generosity and foresight of the Canada Green Building Council, we were able to take the LEED process through to completion,” says Sandy Hopkins, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Manitoba. “The energy and water efficiency of all these homes not only makes them environmentally friendly, but also more affordable by reducing the daily living costs for our low-income working families.”
The CaGBC will have 100 spots available to charitable building organizations in the first year, with that number reviewed annually. Charitable organizations or projects that are interested in applying for free certification with LEED Canada for Homes are encouraged to contact the CaGBC to learn more and to confirm their eligibility: [email protected] or 1-866-941-1184.