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<br />City of Ramsey <br />MASTER HOUSING PLAN <br />DRAFT <br /> <br />........----------------.----..---...--.-........-.............--......................... <br /> <br />Housing Sustainability/Green Community Components: <br /> <br />Housing conditions are an important factor that influences a community's health and well being. <br />Green design and building practices can create healthier home and community environments <br />through better indoor air quality, healthier building materials and the overall reduction of green <br />house gases and the reduction of water and energy resources. In addition, green affordable homes <br />are becoming an increasingly vital part of the new "sustainable city"~ Developing cities like <br />Ramsey have an opportunity to provide housing policy and dedicate resources to become a green <br />community through housing sustainability. <br /> <br />While researchers remain cautious, many public health professionals, and a growing number of <br />affordable housing developers believe sufficient evidence exists to justify adoption of basic <br />"healthy homes" practices to keep homes dry, clean, well ventilated. <br /> <br />The following are benefits outlined by the national Green Communities group <br />(http://www.greencommunitiesonline.org/). <br /> <br />Benefit #1: Healthier Indoor Environments <br /> <br />Building practices and materials that minimize moisture, provide proper ventilation, prevent pest <br />infestation and avoid chemical and biological contaminants protect parents and children against <br />asthma, toxic poisoning, cancer and many other conditions caused or affected by housing <br />construction. <br /> <br />Benefit #2: Energy Savings <br /> <br />High utility costs often impose a substantial financial hardship on low-income households, forcing <br />many to make tradeoffs between heat or electricity and other basic necessities. A recent national <br />study documented the brutal choices that poor families make when faced with unaffordable home <br />energy bills. The study found that during the prior five years, due to their energy bills: <br /> <br />· 57 percent of non-elderly owners and 36 percent of non-elderly renters went without <br />medical or dental care; <br />· 25 percent made a partial payment or missed a whole rent or mortgage payment; and <br />· 20 percent went without food for at least one day. <br /> <br />In addition, energy costs have increased much faster than incomes for low-income households in <br />recent years. Today a family earning minimum wage pays more than four times as much a share of <br />their income for energy as a median income household. <br /> <br />City of Ramsey Master Housing Plan <br /> <br />(draft #1) November 2007 <br />