Net-Zero Energy for the Homeless

Net-Zero Energy Building for the Homeless Introduced at The Salvation Army Home Run

by Bobbie Stacey - Founder of Home Run Innovations Inc.

On May 23, 2009, designers and architects, Ryan Brayak, Kevin Bell and Hannah Jackson introduced conceptual plans for a net-zero energy building in downtown Escanaba that will be used temporarily for emergency and transitional housing of the homeless in Delta County.

 

The building is part of a three-part plan by Home Run Innovations Inc. to revitalize communities by creating a financially self-sustainable housing program. Part one is to create sustainable income streams to fund homeless services provided by local agencies. Part two is to build an endowment for future needs and eliminate much of the need to fundraise in the future. Part three is to create net-zero energy buildings for use as emergency or transitional housing with each property being sold to private buyers after a period of approximately five years.

Net-zero energy is a building standard reached when a property produces as much energy as it consumes in a given year. To reach this standard, Brayak’s building will incorporate multiple energy efficient technologies such as a geothermal heating system which draws the heat out of the ground to provide radiant or forced air heating for the building. The roof of the building will feature several rows of solar panels to produce electricity and excess electricity will be sold back to the power grid. Brayak has also chosen to use insulated concrete forms (ICF) which provide a high R-value (measure of thermal resistance) and thermal mass. A high R-value greatly reduces the transmission of heat and the thermal mass of concrete stores heat from the building interior, in the wintertime, and moderates the temperature, in the summer time. The use of these two reduces the need for a larger heating and cooling system and thus lessens the demand for resources to heat or cool the building.

Additional features include a greywater system which will reuse water from the laundry, bathing, and dish washing for toilets, greatly lessening the building’s demand for water. The parking lot will be paved with pervious concrete, a porous material that allows storm water to filter naturally on the site instead of being diverted elsewhere and adding to the demand on our storm water sewers.

The resource consumption of this building will be monitored and the results made public. If you would like to follow the progress of this project, please contact us through either of the following sites: www.salvationarmyhomerun.org or ryan@rockelements.com.

Home Run Events: Innovative Ideas for Community Revitalization by Roberta (Bobbie) Stacey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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S.H.I.N.E. in Our Community

Sustainable, Healthy, Inclusive Neighborhood Environments or SHINE - that is the mission acronym for a new non-profit called Home Run Innovations Inc. in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It's a comprehensive plan for community redevelopment from the "homeless on up."

• Sustainable - both environmentally and financially sustainable development of social services programs and affordable net-zero energy housing.
• Healthy - promoting "off the couch" family-oriented, health and fitness activities that put neighbors (from the young to the old) side-by-side, elbow-to-elbow working together for overall individual and community well-being.
• Inclusive - improving community resources for the benefit of all local citizens regardless of economic status, age, gender or religion. Building and developing as much for the benefit of the homeless and the marginalized as for the privileged - with focus on the homeless and less fortunate first.
• Neighborhood Environments - transitioning communities toward relocalization of resources such as food and energy production, all the way down to the micro-economy or neighborhood levels where possible.

Home Run Innovations Inc. strives to adapt and implement the world changing models of leaders like Will Allen (Growing Power), Bill McKibben (350.org) and the partnership between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver - all with the goal of creating SHINE in our community.

Read more about SHINE...

Home Run Events: Innovative Ideas for Community Revitalization by Roberta (Bobbie) Stacey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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Net-Zero Energy and Homeless Shelters

Building Net-Zero Energy Structures for the Homeless Could be Most Powerful Step to Community Revitalization

By Bobbie Stacey - Founder of Home Run Innovations Inc.

What has net-zero energy construction got to do with homeless shelters?

First of all, Escanaba and most of the other towns in Delta County are officially (by government funding standards) considered to be impoverished - a status that qualifies us for Brownfield Redevelopment and other "blighted" community re-development incentives.

Secondly, if cold-climate, net-zero energy construction can be accomplished here, with our gray winter skies, it can be done almost anywhere else in the world. The US Department of Energy Zero Energy Buildings Database lists only 7 (yes, that's only SEVEN) net-zero energy buildings with only 3 of them located in cold-climates. SUCCESSFUL NET ZERO ENERGY BUILDING CONSTRUCTION OR REHABILITATION WOULD BRING DELTA COUNTY TO THE ATTENTION OF THE ENTIRE WORLD.

Thirdly, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority will grant up to $25,000 funding per unit for construction or rehabilitation projects that provide low-income housing for at least 5 years.

Please look at the picture of the 100-year-old net-zero energy New Jersey farmhouse above. Does it not remind you of many, many houses in the older parts of Escanaba?

What if a small local non-profit could get manufacturers and distributors of energy-saving materials and technology to donate supplies and advertising/PR dollars to rehab a duplex or triplex within walking distance of Ludington Park that would be used for transitional housing for our homeless?

Better yet, what if the same property was sold at market value to a private buyer at the end of the mandatory 5-year MSHDA lease period? What if the capital gains from the sale were rolled back into another similar rehab project in a different neighborhood, also to be used for transitional housing needs over another 5-year time period - again and again?

Picture that same farmhouse, with ZERO ENERGY BILLS located in a neighborhood between Matt Sviland's Ludington Lofts project on 17th Street and Ludington Park to the east. Would any of you consider retiring to a duplex like that, not only living with zero energy bills, but also with the option to supplement your retirement with rental income? What about the desirability of living in a traditional neighborhood within easy walking distance of the lake, the public library, the Bonifas Arts Center and the Hereford and Hops? Could such a property be an alternative to someone who might typically be attracted to places like Eugene, OR, if not for the higher costs of living there?

Recycling dispersed, older neighborhood properties this way would create desirable residences out of eyesores, reduce the initial zero-energy construction cost barriers to entry for private individuals, and (because of the 5-year turnaround) prevent any one neighborhood from acquiring the reputation of a low rent district so common when large shelters are erected.

I sincerely need the opinions of former residents who since moving away have grown to truly appreciate the assets of Delta County and the Upper Peninsula. I also need input from you who have always remained. One has to live here to fully appreciate the quirks, potential obstacles and citizen dynamics both positive and negative.

Net zero-energy construction can be our solution to homelessness.

Home Run Events: Innovative Ideas for Community Revitalization by Roberta (Bobbie) Stacey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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Delta County Homeless Statistics

Even Sparse Rural Counties Have Homeless Problems

By Bobbie Stacey - Founder of Home Run Innovations Inc.

I recently had the pleasure of compiling statistics on the homeless population of Delta County Michigan for the next HUD Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress. The results mildly surprised me, despite several years involvement with front line service providers in our area. Read on and see for yourself.

• During the 12 month period from 10/01/07 through 09/30/08, an AVERAGE of over 18 HOMELESS PERSONS were sheltered EACH NIGHT of the year in Delta County.

• The above statistic does NOT include our always full, 15-bed capacity domestic violence shelter.

• During this same time period, only 8 emergency shelter beds were available in the entire county - 4 beds at the men's shelter run by The Salvation Army and a total of 4 beds between two rooms on site at St. Vincent de Paul.

• The remaining 10 persons per night were sheltered using emergency motel vouchers - making it almost impossible to case manage these individuals and break their cycle of homelessness.

• The facts I have cited only cover those persons who requested and received services. The counts do not include persons such as homeless PTSD vets hiding out in the woods. They also do not include many persons who parked and slept in their vehicle in the Wal-Mart parking lot all summer or much of the tent population hidden within the buckthorn in the wetlands behind Wal-Mart.

Last May, The Salvation Army provided a few nights shelter to a young woman who had been sleeping in a boxcar. This woman was employed - she cleans motel rooms almost full-time. As far as anyone knew she had no substance abuse issues. Before follow up assistance, such as help with a Section 8 housing application, could be offered, she disappeared - apparently to sleep in an abandoned trailer at the back of a friend's property.

As recently as 6 years ago, I was barely aware that we even had a homeless problem. That's a misperception commonly shared around here. After I've done a radio interview to promote The Salvation Army "Home" Run, or because of the generous PSAs the radio stations have given me to promote this homelessness fundraising event, people approach me often remarking "I never knew we even HAD a homeless problem" because they don't see the more stereotypical evidence such as the meth-addicted "Tweekers" who sleep in the parks of Arcada, CA.

Surprised?

Home Run Events: Innovative Ideas for Community Revitalization by Roberta (Bobbie) Stacey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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Website By and For the Homeless

Have you seen HomelessNation.org yet? It's a website by and for the homeless. Once you start to follow links on the site to personal pages and stories it gets quite fascinating. You don't need to create an account to read the posts or view the videos.


Within two weeks I will post data about our own homeless population - just in case any of you out there maintain doubts that they exist.

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Net-Zero Energy in the UP?

Can Cold-Climate Net-Zero Energy be Accomplished in a Small Town?

By Bobbie Stacey - Founder of Home Run Innovations Inc.

Off and on over the past year I have searched the internet for examples of affordable, net-zero energy, cold-climate homes. So far, I can count the results on my fingers with digits to spare. Net-zero energy commercial buildings are just as sparse. The Department of Energy Zero Energy Buildings Database holds a whopping seven examples. Only three of these were constructed in cold-climate locations.

The most affordable residential home example to date (pictured above top) was built in Wheat Ridge, Colorado as a joint project between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Habitat for Humanity. It has plenty going for it - simplicity, off-the-shelf appliances and materials, ease of mainenance and affordability. But it also lacks aesthetic appeal and like any other net-zero energy design it cannot control the habits of the occupants. Plugging in large inefficient TVs and forgetting to turn off appliances can counteract the design efforts.

Regardless of cold-climate, Wheat Ridge, Colorado averages over 255 days of sunshine per year. Michigan's Delta County averages almost 100 fewer days of sunshine, greatly limiting the value of a solar panel investment. Retrofitting my own eight year old home with solar panels to produce 90-100% of electricity consumed would currently cost in excess of $60,000. The payoff just isn't there. Zero energy would probably have to be achieved by employing a combination of solar, geo-thermal, wind power and the installation of prototype appliances and fixtures that aren't easily serviced in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

My favorite net-zero home example so far is a remodel of a 100 year old farm house in New Jersey (right side photo above) Resembling so many houses in Delta County, I see hope in this example for what I believe can be accomplished in our community. The problem is that this is one of the only examples of its kind in the nation. There are few predecessors to show the way.

Does this mean that zero-energy properties are a territory to be avoided? Not in my opinion. It's all the more reason to forge ahead. Delta County would lead all cold-climate communities in the nation and land on the map doing so - gaining world-wide recognition.

Home Run Events: Innovative Ideas for Community Revitalization by Roberta (Bobbie) Stacey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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Community Foundation Supports Home Run Events

Community Foundation for Delta County Supports Innovative Approach to Community Revitalization

By Bobbie Stacey - Founder of Home Run Innovations Inc.


The Community Foundation for Delta County recently awarded a $2400 start-up grant to the organizers of Home Run Events: Running for Caring Communities.

Home Run Events seeks to build the next generation of good citizens through fun, fitness and ending homelessness in our community.

Three Delta County homeless shelter and transitional housing providers will be the beneficiaries of the first Home Run Event on May, 23, 2008 in Escanaba - the Alliance Against Violence and Abuse, Lutheran Social Services Voices for Youth and The Salvation Army. The Salvation Army Home Run 2009 will incorporate joint fundraising for all three agencies.

Half of all Home Run Event proceeds will be placed into an endowment with the Community Foundation of the Upper Peninsula the interest from which will fund badly needed services that goverment funding historically has not covered in our rural area.

Initially, Home Run Events will seek grants from national foundations and energy conservation companies to create net-zero energy properties for use as transitional living facilities for a five year period. These properties will provide a bridge from homelessness to self-sufficiency, typically a six to eighteen month process per individual or family. At the end of five years the properties will be sold to private buyers and the capital gains re-invested into the next zero-energy project in a new neighborhood, eventually self-funding the program.

Shown in the accompanying photo are from left: Sherri Viau of the Alliance Against Violence and Abuse, Bobbie Stacey, Mary Busick of Lutheran Social Services Voices for Youth, Major William Cox of The Salvation Army, Alice Butch of the Community Foundation for Delta County and Brenda Lippens of the Delta County Credit Union.

Delta County residents with a passion for youth development and/or community development are asked to call Bobbie Stacey, (906) 399-3567 to get involved.


Home Run Events: Innovative Ideas for Community Revitalization by Roberta (Bobbie) Stacey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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Supportive Housing Can Improve Neighborhoods

A friend spotted this OpEd piece in the New York Times today. Well run shelters and transitional housing units can improve a neighborhood.

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Marquette Has Room at the Inn

Churches in Marquette Do the Graceful Thing to Help Homeless

By Bobbie Stacey - Founder of Home Run Innovations Inc.

Several churches in the city of Marquettte, Michigan are taking turns sheltering the homeless. The program, called Room at the Inn, was launched in 2007 and provides food and a warm place to sleep on cold winter nights. One church, Faith in Christ Fellowship on Wright St., has opened it's doors during the morning hours year round to serve as a warming center.

Room at the Inn is an inter-faith effort that runs by the grace of its volunteers and through the vision of its founder, Helen McCormick, who "had become heartbroken by the homeless people she encountered while volunteering at the St. Vincent de Paul Society."

Catholic Charities of the U.P. coordinates the training of Room at the Inn volunteers whose four hour assignments range from in-take and night shifts to meal preparation and laundry. The program has been averaging four guests per night and can accommodate a maximum of ten.

According to Catholic Charities Director, Laurence Ziomkowski, Room at the Inn "...shows that by working together, faith communities can address problems without relying on the government for funding.”


Home Run Events: Innovative Ideas for Community Revitalization by Roberta (Bobbie) Stacey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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Three Components for Home Run Events

Three Phase Approach to Small Town Economic Revival Beginning with the Homeless

By Bobbie Stacey - Founder of Home Run Innovations Inc.

The three main components (Collaborative Community Fundraising, Joint Endowment, and Financially Self-Supporting Dispersed Housing) proposed for the structure of Home Run Events Inc. may seem too ambitious to lump into one package under a new non-profit. But I argue that unless an organization embraces and positions itself to fit dynamically into the "big" picture from the outset, all of its efforts will ultimately wither and die.

I'm a fan of systems thinking, one of the disciplines mastered by successful learning organizations who have given up the "illusion that the world is created of separate, unrelated forces."* In his book The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, author Peter M. Senge describes what an individual experiences as part of a learning organization.

"Most of us at one time or another have been part of a great team, a group of people who functioned together in an extraordinary way - who trusted one another, who complemented one another's strengths and compensated for one another's limitations, who had common goals that were larger than individual goals, and who produced extraordinary results. I have met many people who have experienced this sort of profound teamwork - in sports, or in the performing arts, or in business. Many say that they have spent much of their lives looking for that experience again. What they experienced was a learning organization. The team that became great didn't start off great - it learned how to produce extraordinary results."**

How I have approached the groundwork for Home Run Events has been greatly influenced by at least one of Senge's partners - a man named Robert Fritz. In my opinion, and in that of many others, Fritz is perhaps one of the most original thinkers of our lifetimes. I used to work for Fritz. I also used to teach courses designed by Fritz from a series called "Technologies for Creating" for which I was certified and licensed. Robert Fritz is the author of several books, the most popular of which is his bestseller The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life.

The tenacity with which I have continued to develop The Salvation Army Home Run over the past two years does not come from foolish stubbornness. It comes from an unusually high ability to maintain "structural tension" that I owe to the lessons of Robert Fritz and his wife Rosalind. Read the Amazon customer reviews of The Path of Least Resistance to see what others have to say. It will impress you. I promise.

My vision for Home Run Events is one where we create a housing solution for our community that no one has ever accomplished before, one that becomes a model for rural America and an innovation to the field of social services. Bringing something into being that has never been there before -that is the essence of the creative process. Can that be accomplished with only one of the components in isolation from the others? Not in my opinion.

Do you agree?

Will you join me?

* The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, by Peter M. Senge, p. 4

** Ibid., p. 3


Home Run Events: Innovative Ideas for Community Revitalization by Roberta (Bobbie) Stacey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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Can Running Solve Homelessness?

Engaging and Developing Future Leaders through the Inclusive Sport of Running

By Bobbie Stacey - Founder of Home Run Innovations Inc.

Running solving homelessness? Come on. How can sweating on streets, treadmills and trails, mile after mile, put roofs over peoples heads? Isn't running a time consuming personal pursuit for self-absorbed, obsessive fitness nuts? Wouldn't we be better off if all those running hours were collectively poured into volunteer home building?

Read on and decide for yourself.

First of all, let's back up and examine the popularity of running as an activity in the United States. According to Running USA's Road Running Information Center (RRIC), in 2007 there were 8,875,000 road race finishers in the United States, a 4.2 percent increase over the previous year with a 50-50 split between males and females. By comparison, according to RRIC data, there were just over 3.7 million U.S. road race finishers in 1987 - quite a leap for one decade. It is also estimated that in 2007 there were somewhere between 11 million and 16 million frequent (Run/Jog 100+ days/yr) runners, depending upon the studies cited, approximately 40 million U.S. residents claim to have run or jogged at least once during the year.

Next, examine the money raised for charity through road race events Road runners and walkers raised $714 million for charity in 2006, according to USA Track & Field (USATF). Dividing that dollar amount by 8,535,000, the number of road racers in the same year, comes out to an average of $83.66 per event finisher. Hmmmm, healthy aerobic activity and assistance for charitable causes. OK, maybe running isn't such a self-absorbed activity.

What about youth? Who among us has not observed an epidemic of obesity among the current generation of U.S. children along with several health problems that follow? The same RRIC report cited above also includes a whole section of youth running statistics and verifies the increasing popularity of youth running programs.

The middle school youth in the photo above are celebrating their joint victory (boys and girls) at the Central Upper Peninsula Middle School Cross Country finals. As one of their coaches, I can tell you that the children grew to love each other's company and looked forward to practices and meets. The positive social aspects of the X-Country program amazed me. By the end of the season, it would not have mattered what we asked them to do, as long as they could do it together. They are begging me to begin the winter running club I suggested during our awards dinner.

Interestingly enough the positive social rewards of running are almost as important to adults. The RRIC reports also show that while weight control is by far the number one reason that adults start running, at least 50 percent of runners continue to run because of the social aspects - the sense of belonging to a larger community with common interests.

It isn't that children don't want to run and be more active. The problem, as I see it, is that the parents can no longer imagine why their child would want to run. So parents don't suggest it or seek running program options for them.

Granted, telling your child to go and do something that you are not willing or able to do yourself doesn't cut it. At least it sure doesn't work with my children. However, I respect that there are legitimate reasons why some parents are unable to take up running with their kids - besides an aversion to exercise. During the time that I competed in high school sports, it would have been very easy to acquire a sports injury from overuse or lack of cross-training and subsequently receive medical "treatment" for it that even made the problem worse. These were the days before laser surgery techniques, Title IX, physical therapy - and even running shoes became ubiquitous in our lives. Besides, there are other active pursuits that can produce the same positive results. My family just happens to have a bias for running.

Today as coaches - we all run with our team at each and every practice. It's an amazingly simple concept. We make a commitment to hang out with a bunch of fourth through eighth graders for an hour, three to four times per week and for approximately eight Saturday mornings during the fall season. We gather the kids, stretch them out, tell them where and how far they are running that day. Then we run. Afterward we gather back together for more stretching and exercise and often a group game that improves their agility, footwork or speed. No equipment is required other than appropriate medium-price running shoes and a pair of shorts and t-shirt. Most importantly, all children of any abilities and from any background are welcome.

Those are happy kids in that photo. They are each pleased with their individual progress from the start of the season and proud of their team accomplishments. They are better friends to one another than before the season began. Virtually all have said they will return next year. I know that I am proud of them. I know how far each of them has come. I have never in my life been so awe-struck by the unlimited potential of youth. That's no longer a cliche´ in my mind.

Could these young runners be the seeds of a new, socially responsible generation? Will they embrace causes as a group, such as homelessness, and run together to solve them? Will they expand their collective running experience to the world at large, becoming stronger individuals in the process? Will their peers from other communities do the same? I'm betting YES - if only we'd ask them.

Let's ask them, shall we?

Home Run Events: Innovative Ideas for Community Revitalization by Roberta (Bobbie) Stacey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

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