A Little-Known Federal Program Is Keeping Senior Housing Affordable in Denver

Flood-prone cities in the United States are turning to stormwater utility projects that charge landowners based on the amount of impervious surface on their property. The money earned from the fees is used to build green infrastructure that allows rainwater to seep into the ground instead of overwhelming storm drains and sewage systems.

In 2022, the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York created its 0% Development Advance Program, a targeted lending program, and has since then provided $460 million in eligible loans in one of five categories: small business, climate resilience or energy efficiency, infrastructure, housing, or tribal development.

Communities in the Sundarbans have adopted shrimp farming as a sustainable livelihood strategy; the approach has proven successful, with environmental benefits and many farmers earning a good income.

Residents of mobile home communities are coming together to collectively buy the land their houses are on and establish cooperatives. It ensures their rent stays affordable long term, and some state governments are making it easier to do so to help address housing affordability crises.

Dominica is funding its climate change adaptation and resilience projects, like building storm-resilient housing, by selling citizenship to people who want a Dominica passport to travel in the West with less restriction.

Housing developers are following the Passive House standards to create affordable housing that’s incredibly energy efficient. These buildings are air-tight with efficient ventilation and strategically positioned windows, so they don’t need central heating and cooling systems.

Mobile homeowners are buying the land their homes are on to form resident-owned cooperatives so they can upgrade infrastructure faster. This allows them to combat and adapt to climate change by installing things like solar panels and drainage systems.

As their workforces age, states across the United States are offering student loan repayment to incentivize college graduates to stick around. Now Maine and Vermont are the first to offer it to those with degrees in any field with very few caveats.

Federal tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act and added incentives from the state of Colorado and its municipalities is drawing in clean energy companies, creating new jobs, and helping the state meet its decarbonization goals.

Farmers in West Bengal, India, are swapping rice for bananas to save on expenses and labor and adapt to increasingly erratic monsoons and rainfall impacting yields. The farmers use solar panels and drip irrigation setups funded by the state government to reduce emissions and minimize water loss, as bananas require a lot of water.