First-of-Its-Kind Affordable Maryland Housing Community Will Promote Efficient Energy and Uplift Local History
Fairmount Heights Zero Energy homes in Prince George’s County, MD, with help from a $1.8 million LISC construction loan, will develop six net-zero homes to be sold to low-income residents in addition to a community-serving pocket park, serving as a model for other energy efficient communities across the country.
For 60 years, 717 60th Place was home to the first town hall of Fairmount Heights, MD, an African American enclave with a rich history incorporated in the early 20th century. When the building was demolished in 2000, it became a municipal storage site and its significance within Prince George’s County, one of the most affluent African American communities in the US, was nearly lost. Now a new net-zero affordable housing development to be built on the vacant lot next year will introduce the benefits of microgrids and modular construction while incorporating a pocket park to help celebrate the landmark building first erected in 1942 and serve as a cultural touchpoint for the neighborhood.
Fairmount Heights Zero Energy homes will provide first-time homeowners with an affordable opportunity to help bring the county one step closer to its goal of reaching 50% decarbonization by 2040, part of the state’s efforts to become greener. The nonprofit sustainable housing developer and counseling agency, Housing Initiative Partnership, Inc. (HIP), broke ground on the energy-equitable housing project in October, and is on track to complete the development and sell its first homes by late spring 2024. A $1.8 million construction loan from LISC allowed HIP to move forward with the project.
“It wasn't going to happen without the LISC funding to allow us to go through the construction process,” Stephanie Prange Proestel, HIP’s deputy director said. “It was that last piece we absolutely needed.”
For over 40 years LISC D.C. has partnered with residents and communities across the city to address the structural and historic impacts of racism and build more resilient communities of opportunity. Just in the past few years, the local office has begun a concerted effort to expand beyond the District and support projects in Prince George’s County.
For Melanie Stern, LISC DC’s senior program officer who closed the loan, the development of the Fairmount Heights project is a means to “push the envelope” on green affordable housing.
“It has been a pleasure to develop a partnership with HIP, a nonprofit so deeply rooted in Prince George’s County,” she said. “The project elevates the rich history of the surrounding neighborhood, while integrating cutting edge green design and affordable homeownership opportunities, in a way that will ultimately pave the way for future projects.”
The single-family detached homes will be powered by a self-sufficient microgrid energy system, a network of buildings that acts as a miniature power grid and can run outside of the larger municipal electrical system by ensuring backup power for the entire property can be produced by a solar array system and stored in a battery. The use of microgrids is on the rise across the country—the U.S. Energy Department has estimated that there were more than 450 operational microgrids in the United States in 2022. The system will mitigate the impacts of extreme weather and other events that affect electric grids.
“As communities across America face increasing threats from climate change, which can disproportionately affect our most vulnerable communities, the Fairmount Heights Net Zero community will provide a replicable and scalable model for providing affordable, clean, sustainable energy to LMI communities,” said Rob Bennett, founder and CEO of BlockEnergy, the renewable energy platform behind the homes’ design will also maintain the community solar power system to help increase reliability and resilience for the local grid.
The project also touts modular construction – a process by which buildings are constructed offsite – and is designed to meet the US Department of Energy’s Zero Ready Energy requirement and the Passive House Institute’s PHIUS+ 2018 standard to ensure energy cost stability, comfort, health, and durability. Designed to supply 80% of each BlockHome’s energy needs through on-site solar panels, the BlockEnergy system will help to meet 2040 renewable portfolio goals.
For many homeowners, adding solar panels to a residence demands understanding the mechanics and maintaining the new energy system, HIP’s Proestel explained. But for Fairmount Heights Zero Enegy homes residents, upkeep will be minimal. For the first two years after residents move in, a local utility company, Pepco, will operate the microgrid as a pilot, with support from BlockEnergy. This will take the burden of managing the new systems off homeowners, while ensuring the production of efficient energy without added upfront costs. Pepco and BlockEnergy will also collect energy grid data to benefit future customers.
“It's not only affordable to a first-time home buyer. It’s helping a new homeowner create financial equity and addressing energy equity at the same time,” Proestel said. “You see a lot of these solar projects and really innovative things happening, and they tend not to be in communities of color.”
As housing costs in the area soar, and entry-level home ownership becomes more difficult for families, the homes will be marketed to first-time homebuyers earning 80% or less of the area median income and require pre-purchase housing counseling and coaching to ensure buyers are prepared for all aspects of the process. HIP is subsidizing mortgages for the homes to maintain affordability and ensure the values of the homes in the neighborhood don’t depreciate.
Amid the county’s shifting economic landscape, the preservation of Fairmount Heights’ cultural legacy is key to the project. The development’s pocket park will also be a stopping point on a local African American history walking tour.
“For a small project, it's hitting on so many different elements that are important to us with community revitalization,” Proestel said. “We're honoring the history of the community, we're partnering with the community, and we're creating affordable housing for new homeowners, and we're also dealing with energy equity. While the houses will be for specific families, we also have something that serves the community as a whole.”