This is frankly a no brainer to consciously aware trades persons, especially those of us who have been in the trades for years, we already were practicing better ideals and cost savings to customers on product and trades practices. And we could have already had jobs created in this and many other area's if some in congress really wanted to help the country and not continue obstruction.
December 6 2011 - Nancy Welsh is the founder of the Raleigh, N.C.-based nonprofit Builders of Hope, which works to change the face of affordable housing by rehabilitating abandoned houses slated for demolition.
It’s no secret that the United States is in the midst of a housing crisis. Foreclosure notices were filed against a record-setting 2.9 million properties last year and 1.2 million in the first half of this year. Yet the price of many foreclosed homes remains unaffordable for a majority of Americans.
Policymakers are desperately searching for a solution to the housing crisis. They fantasize about tearing down 3 million homes – roughly 60,000 homes per state – all in an effort to jump-start the housing market and the economy. What they fail to realize is the opportunity these homes offer for creating the affordable housing that Americans so desperately need. If the average U.S. household size is 2.58 people, the 3 million homes potentially slated for tear down could provide shelter for 7.74 million people — or roughly the population of the state of Virginia.
snip Beyond the creation of new affordable housing for America’s workforce, home recycling and rehabilitation also offers environmental benefits. A study released Aug. 31 by North Carolina State University found that rehabilitating an existing home through our organization’s Extreme Green process, for example, defers 19.36 tons of carbon dioxide when compared with building a new home using traditional construction methods. This is equivalent to deferring the CO2 emissions from 1,979 gallons of unleaded gasoline.
In addition, each home that is torn down adds approximately 35,000 pounds of debris to the landfill. Tearing down 3 million homes would send roughly 105 billion pounds of debris to the landfill. read more>>>
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