As the housing affordability crisis worsens yearly and more Americans face homelessness, climate change-induced extreme temperatures continue to stress America’s aging and inefficient housing stock, which leads to spiraling inflation on utility bills that further economically distress America’s most vulnerable families. The confluence of these two issues exacerbates housing precarity and the average American’s ability to recover from financial disaster. To help combat these issues, we work closely with nonprofit housing that serves the most vulnerable among our communities.
Safe Haven is one such housing community, a property operated by the nonprofit Valley Behavioral Health in Salt Lake City. The property provides essential shelter and support for people experiencing chronic homelessness, addiction, and serious mental health concerns. Valley Behavioral Health partnered with ICAST to bring deep energy retrofits to one of Safe Haven’s two buildings, retrofitting a total of 24 units. This project recently won the esteemed Green Project of the Year award from the Utah Housing Coalition (UHC). UHC supports affordable and equitable housing solutions throughout Utah, collaborating with stakeholders to influence policy and promote community awareness about housing needs and challenges. Each year, the coalition recognizes outstanding achievements in housing through its Housing Matters Awards, which include categories such as Green Project of the Year, UHC Members of the Year, Agency of the Year, Urban Project of the Year, Rural Project of the Year, Person of the Year, and Housing Leader on the Hill.
The Green Project of the Year award recognizes Safe Haven’s trailblazing efforts of putting sustainable technology into housing solutions for some of the city’s most vulnerable citizens. The scope of work for this project included replacing 20+-year-old gas boilers and central air conditioners with 1.0-1.5 ton cold climate air-source heat pumps in all units and common areas, along with replacing the mechanical room’s gas water heater with an 80-gallon commercial electric heat pump water heater; other installations included replacing outdated manual thermostats with programmable smart thermostats. This project cost roughly $406 thousand and received rebates from Rocky Mountain Power’s multifamily program totaling $92 thousand, reducing the project cost by nearly 25%. Over the lifetime of the installed upgrades, they will: Save a total of $446 thousand in utility costs; save 5.5 million lbs. of carbon emissions; and cut annual utility costs for Valley Behavioral Health by $21.5 thousand.
ICAST nominated Safe Haven for the impact the project had on the most vulnerable community members in Salt Lake City along with the project’s use of advanced clean energy technologies that go beyond “business as usual” retrofits and upgrades. In the long run, the energy savings from this project will be money put directly into the pockets of Valley Behavioral Health, allowing them to further their mission through these savings.
By collaborating with Valley Behavioral Health, ICAST has been able to leverage its expertise in sustainable technology and project management to advance the nonprofit’s mission. This partnership has transformed Safe Haven into a model of sustainability that not only reduces environmental impact but improves living conditions for its residents. This project is an important step for our organization as it enhances our capacity to serve and uplift the community’s most vulnerable members effectively.