Affordable Housing Is Good Business

The Dec. 16, 2004 groundbreaking for Denny Park, a 50-unit affordable housing project in Seattle, will break new financing ground too. The project is the first in a nationwide program to combine special "green" building funding with federal low-income housing tax credits. To qualify as environmentally correct, the apartments take advantage of east-west exposures, are near amenities and public transportation and were built with durable 50-year exterior materials and low-maintenance landscaping."

The proejct launches the Columbia, Md.-based Enterprise Foundation's "Green Communities Initiative, which is offering $550 million in equity investment, backed by low-income-housing tax credits, for developers to build 8,500 units of green affordable housing nationwide over five years."