The Design for Aging Committee October meeting was delighted to have Haym Gross, founding member of NYC 2030 District, a non-profit climate partnership focused on building energy and renewable energy, to speak to us about his work with Bridge St. Development Corporation, and Karp Strategies (as well as others) to preserve HUD 202 Senior Supportive Housing in Brooklyn (and beyond). Haym’s team is engaged in studying current conditions at a number of these properties and recommends improvements. Kendall Christiansen (member of the committee) is also involved and talked about his experience on the project as well.

A few resources that were brought up during the meeting include:

  • Cadence OneFive: an online platform that can help building owners optimize and understand financial incentives for their building’s energy retrofit needs among other things.
  • Heat/ Cool Smart Brooklyn: an example of a successful program administered by NYC 2030 District and sponsored by the Brooklyn Borough President and NYSERDA to help owners retrofit their buildings with envelope improvements and electrification of heat.

We also talked about ideas on how to use DFA committee funds that were recently confirmed by AIANY to be available. The group agreed to move forward with expanding on the study done a few years ago with NYCHA’s Amsterdam Houses. The project focused on ways to better accommodate seniors living in multi-generational communities. One idea is to come up with a prototype that is more applicable to the majority of NYCHA buildings. We will discuss this more at the November meeting to figure out the next steps, so ideas and participation are welcome from interested members as we try to define the project more! 

Coming up:

  • Next meeting. We will meet on 11/21 from 5-6:30 pm and the meeting will be hybrid. Kate Leitch from Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC) will be presenting the work the organization has been doing related to ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units). CHPC is a non-profit research and education organization focused on housing and planning policy in NYC.
  • December: We will meet on 12/19 in person at the Center for Architecture. The idea would be to have a Holiday potluck get-together!  We will discuss this at the November meeting.