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<br />City of Ramsey <br />MASTER HOUSING PLAN <br /> <br />--------.-.--------.-.--------------....------.-.---.--------------.-.--.-..-.-.-------.-. <br /> <br />Housing Sustainability/Green Community Components: <br /> <br />- <br />Housing conditions playa major role in a community's health and well being. Green design and <br />building practices can create healthier home and community environments through better indoor air <br />quality, healthier building materials and the overall reduction of green house gases and the <br />reduction of water and energy resources. In addition, green affordable homes are becoming an <br />increasingly vital part of the new "sustainable city". Developing cities like Ramsey have an <br />opportunity to provide housing policy and dedicate resources to become a green community through <br />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 of green building practices, as outlined by the national Green <br />Communities group (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% of non-elderly owners and 36% of non-elderly renters went without medical or dental <br />care; <br />· 25% made a partial payment or missed a whole rent or mortgage payment; and <br />· 20% 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 />February 2008 <br /> <br />City of Ramsey Master Housing Plan <br /> <br />Page 16 <br />