Providing Affordable Housing For The Poor

Being responsible for environmental issues are not easy task that could be handle at the same time. Tara Barauskas and Community Corporation of Santa Monica has been trying their best to make their goal and vision succeed; however, there have been many obstacles throughout their mission. One of the biggest challenges that Barauskas and her organization have to face is the economic barriers. According to the 2018 summary “Low-Income Energy Efficiency: A Pathway to Clean, Affordable Energy for All” provided by Environmental Defensse Fund organization, the summary suggests, “High upfront costs, creditworthiness requirements, and split incentives between clients and investors to invest in energy efficiency upgrades can prevent lower income customers from accessing existing energy efficiency services.

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Even though according to Edward Mazria, it is true that architecture is able to control the energy efficiency through the building design, yet most of those design methods heavily which is known as passive design depend on the geographic location of the site which is out of the architectures’ control.

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Besides, even though green technologies as parts of the design will increase the energy efficiency as well as save a lot of money in long term, the initial cost is still high and needed to be considered in other to keep the best life quality of the occupants. The high upfront cost also increases the hesitation and doubt from the clients especially the people who has low-income because their financial status leads to the tendency of focusing on the short-term issue. Another obstacle that Barauskas and her organization have to face is social barriers.

According to the summery provided by EDF, it shows, “Lack of trust between low-income communities and utilities or contractors can be a significant obstacle to reaching vulnerable households. Scheduling difficulties, language and literacy barriers, and immigration status may also create roadblocks.” one of the most common things that could be noticed in the low-income community is the lack of education and knowledge about energy saving and environmental problem. Therefore, it is harder for the people in the community to see the beneficial of the long-term benefit in the program.  The fact that majority of the low-income community usually different background without the ability to communicate in English makes it much harder for the organization to interact or educate them.

This also makes it harder to understand the actual need of the majority in the community in hosing quality as well as energy use. Because Most of people in the low-income community usually an extent working period during the day as well as unusual working hours, scheduling for meeting is difficult. The last obstacle is actually inside of the design team. The miscommunication as well as the different incentives or expectation between architect teams and developers make it hard for the organization to get its goal and vision. Those conflicts usually lies in the aspect such as design expectation or cost expectation or energy saving features.