EAH Housing announces Shelter Hill is going green

Affordable housing is going green as solar retrofitting and other efficient technologies are being utilized in the refurbishing of a complex in Mill Valley. Shelter Hill, a 75-unit housing complex in Mill Valley managed by EAH Housing, is going solar starting this month. The solar installation will provide predictable energy bills and reduce the utility costs paid by the residents each month.
The complex, which hosts four four-bedroom, 40 three-bedroom and 27 two-bedroom apartments, also includes a community room with a kitchen, a computer learning center and outdoor play areas for kids.
Of the 275 to 300 residents who call Shelter Hills home, many are lower income or living on fixed incomes. Reducing the ever rising energy costs will provide a welcome reduction of out of pocketing heating, cooling and electrical costs, EAH officials said.
Built in 1975 and in need of a redo both aesthetically and to bring the property up to modern standards, the planned greening of the complex was something EAH was very interested in.
“It is a mission of our company. We want to make the units green as we can as well as the common areas as it benefits everybody,” EAH project manager Dave Egan said.
The upgrades will include a new solar electricity system, which will be installed by Berkeley’s Sun Light & Power. It is made up of 138 Trina 280W solar modules on the roofs of the buildings.
The cost of green rehab pays for itself in utility savings while reducing energy usage by 25 percent for the entire property. Each unit will be installed with hydronic heating and cooling systems, energy efficient double glazed windows, low flow water usage toilets and new refrigerators.
Sun Light & Power has installed solar electricity as well as solar hot water systems at other EAH Housing communities. The company recently completed its largest affordable housing solar installation Crescent Park in Richmond.
“Shelter Hill was a property built in the mid 1970s in southern Marin. It has been operating as affordable housing ever since. Now it is time to refresh the property to bring it up to modern standard,” Egan said.
The property will also be getting other upgrades as part of the redo which will consist of the installation of energy efficient appliances, high-efficiency water heaters, dual-pane windows, water-saving fixtures and native-plant landscaping. Over half of EAH properties have been retrofitted with green technologies and the other half have received energy use audits.

This article was originally published in the Mill Valley Herald.

EAH Housing opens Fresno’s first housing complex for low-income people with disabilities

Finding an affordable apartment that is handicapped accessible has always been difficult for Rene Potter, paralyzed on the left side of her body from two strokes. The bathroom is often the most challenging room in an apartment because it’s hard to move in and out of the tub, Potter said.

Potter has no problem now that she’s living at Arbor Court. In 2011, Fresno’s first-ever housing community for low-income people with disabilities had its grand opening. Arbor Court is a 20-unit development on East Laurel Avenue in southeast Fresno. The one- and two-bedroom

units comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The apartments are designed with 30-inch doorways that allow wheelchairs to easily move in and out of the units. There are roll-in showers, grab rails, low sinks and counters and lowered light

switches in each apartment. “The accommodations are so much more beneficial to me,” said Potter, who was among the first residents to move in last month.

The demand for a development of this kind is high because it gives disabled people the opportunity to be independent, said Jenine Breedlove, the property supervisor. A few months after the apartments became available to lease, the complex is already full with a waiting list of at least 15 families, Breedlove said.

That’s exciting for the developers who didn’t know whether the project would happen after introducing the plans more than seven years ago. The declining economy put a halt on construction when a $1.5 million state grant that the project depended on was frozen.

 

EAH Housing built affordable housing community Arbor Court with the needs of people with disabilities in mind.

 

But developer EAH Housing, a Marin County nonprofit, kept pushing and was able to find other ways to complete the project. The company reassessed its design plans and construction costs, said Mary Murtagh, president and chief executive officer for EAH. The project also qualified for state and federal grants through the city of Fresno and the federal

Department of Housing and Urban Development.

New resident Anna Ross wasn’t planning to move from the Cypress Apartments, half a block away, where she lived for 21 years. Her family insisted she try to get into the new apartments. They knew it would be helpful for Ross, whose left arm is paralyzed from a stroke she suffered in

1985. Ross walks slowly with a cane. “I love it,” Ross said. “It feels like home.”

On the other side of the complex, Jerry Smith is happy with his decision to leave Senior Citizen Village on Chestnut Avenue for a new one-bedroom apartment. Smith, who suffers from chronic back pain and has had multiple back surgeries, enjoys walking his dog, Boogie, around the complex picking up trash and keeping the area clean. “It’s nice to have something new,” Smith said. “If we all work together, we can help keep it great.”

This article originally appeared in the Fresno Bee.