From vacancy to vibrancy in the City of Rochester, NY

How HOME Rochester works

The HOME Rochester Program acquires vacant single-family homes in Rochester NY, typically foreclosures, and rehabilitates them for resale to qualifying first-time homebuyers earning less than 80% of area median income. The program began in 2001 and is recognized as an effective neighborhood stabilization model.

The Rochester Housing Development Fund Corporation (RHDFC) manages the day-to-day operations of the program through a contract with the Greater Rochester Housing Partnership (GRHP). Local nonprofit housing developers act as partners by: doing an initial feasibility analysis, creating a scope of work for bidding purposes, selecting a contractor managing the construction of each home, and often finding a buyer.

Although HOME Rochester is working with individual homes, it is working with a lot of them in various stages of their development process at any one time. For consistency, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, HOME Rochester uses an assembly line style of production. This translates into the affordability required by the City of Rochester and other sources of subsidy. Banks participate in the financing pool for the HOME Rochester program to meet their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) obligations and non-profit lenders provide financing as part of their mission. The City of Rochester is the last lender to be repaid in the financing pool.

HOME Rochester explores affordable green

The affordable green process started with a 10-member Green Design and Development Team, which chose a very deliberate 7-step process for going green:

Strategic Steps

1. 1 – Early Conversations and Exploration
2. 2 – Focus Group and Development of Green Goals
3. 3 – Research
4. 4 – Charrette
5. 5 – Integrate Green into Production Model
6. 6 – Implement the Green Treatments
7. 7 – Monitor Performance/Adjust Systems of the Green Homes

The first step for HOME Rochester was to get acquainted with Enterprise Community Partners’ Green Communities Criteria (EGCC). Regular conversations were held over the course of a year on the pros and cons of trying to meet the EGCC. At the same time, significant research took place: on optional methods, materials, and energy audits of housing stock typically addressed by the program.

Local Enterprise staff advised HOME Rochester about an Enterprise Green Communities Iniitative grant to hold a charrette. The charrette provided the opportunity to engage in a serious discussion of green design possibilities. About a dozen local affordable housing professionals, led by Armand Magnelli of Livable Housing, spent a full day working through just what changes would be required and options Home Rochester should consider to meet the EGCC. While all involved were keen to move to green affordable housing, some of the requirements and options involved first-cost increases for which clear and tangible benefits would be required. But at the end of the day, they were close, with follow-up needed on spec changes for mandatory items—low-VOC finishes, measure-by-measure energy efficiency upgrades, low-flow showerheads and faucets—and the following optional criteria within reach.

NOTE: During the greening process HOME Rochester undertook, the EGCC were updated to include, among other things, greater water efficiency.

Getting the green process going

HOME Rochester needed to really focus their first efforts at affordable green, streamlining the process as much as possible and identifying key winners and challenges along the way. HOME Rochester secured a competitive $50,000 grant from Enterprise Community Partners to support their initial green building process. Ten neighborhood-based non-profit organizations identified 50 vacant and foreclosed homes with the following features: at least 3-bedroom, 4 typical styles (Ranch, Cape, 2-story Colonial and 4 Square Colonial), off-street parking, and no major environmental hazards.

Energy assessments – Prior to the charrette, PathStone energy assessment and modeling tools were used for each of the four housing types. This modeling exercise provided measure-by-measure guidance to achieve at least 15% energy performance improvement per the EGCC. PathStone also performed BPI-compliant blower door tests post-retrofit to confirm that air-sealing was completed by the construction contractors, meeting a 1500 cfm50 target.

NOTE: You would think that with existing homes, utility bill analysis would be among the most fruitful tools in energy assessment, but foreclosed and long-vacant homes, often with several owners over a relatively short time frame, make utility bill analysis impractical for the HOME Rochester program.

New material specs – HOME Rochester made sure that any new green materials could be adequately sourced locally by their contractors and that their contractors were familiar with and/or trained if new materials or systems required it. In general, the more experienced contractors were better equipped to make the jump to new green techniques, materials, or systems.

Homeowner manual – HOME Rochester developed an excellent green homeowner’s manual.

Where Green HOME Rochester is today

Based on the original Green Development Plan 7-step process, HOME Rochester is in the middle of Step 7, Monitor Performance/Adjust Systems of the Green Homes. All 50 of the initial homes have been retrofit in compliance with their submitted EGCC Checklist and 37 of the 50 homes have been sold. Alma Balonon-Rosen, Enterprise Community Partners Director – Relationship Management – East Region, characterizes the greening of HOME Rochester this way: “The greening of HOME Rochester is a wonderful example of how foreclosed properties can be rehabbed to a green standard for sale to low-income families. Sales for HOME Rochester green homes have been good; buyers like the anticipated energy and water efficiency, and improved indoor air quality. Do we have things to work on? Sure, but overall we are pleased with our efforts and results so far.”