Is YouthBuild on the right path?

Just some links about YouthBuild's Green Initiative...

http://www.youthbuild.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=htIRI3PIKoG&b=1300085&ct=1693807

http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/0329tr-greenhouse0329Z14.html

http://www.youthbuild.org/site/c.htIRI3PIKoG/b.1310741/apps/s/content.asp?ct=2871225

One of the prime objectives of YouthBuild program is to construct or rehabilitate housing for low-income or homeless individuals and families. With this objective, YouthBuild has some characteristics of sustainable development in a sense that it seeks to relieve poverty through expanding the supply of affordable housing, even though it does not have any specific ethos or guidelines for green technologies or sustainable development in construction process. In fact, YouthBuild program has been successful in achieving this housing-related objective in terms of quality of housing and households served by this housing.  

Basically, YouthBuild grantees should meet the minimum housing standards by abiding by construction/rehabilitation regulations. Besides, in order to secure the quality of housing, YouthBuild USA recommends the outsourcing of critical construction work to subcontractors at every YouthBuild work site[1]. It suggests that crucial construction works such as electrical, plumbing and heating work must be done by licensed technicians because the lack of experience of participants and their different level of readiness for work can compromise the quality and efficiency of the construction. It is also expected that the quality of YouthBuild housing would be reinforced by the YouthBuild Transfer ActYBTA) which places greater emphasis on providing training through “registered apprenticeship programs,” which can lead to certifications that meet accepted industry skills standards[2], and thus motivating participants to acquire those skills. 

In addition, federal regulations on YouthBuild program mandate that YouthBuild residential properties must only be available for rental by, or sale to, homeless individuals or low-income families. Given the federally funded programs used to finance YouthBuild housing (such as HOME, HOPE VI and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits) and the income restrictions these programs have for some units, it is assumed that the households who receive units built by YouthBuild meet the required definition of low- and very-low income[3]. In this sense, Youthbuild program achieves its goal of producing affordable housing that benefits the low- and very low income households for which it is intended.  

However, given the number of housing units YouthBuild sites produce, it’s unrealistic to expect that the YouthBuild projects have contributed to the improvement of community’s overall living standards. According to the study which examined the 20 sample YouthBuild site programs, the vast majority YouthBuild programs proposed constructing or rehabilitating between one and five units of housing, and each program grantee could produce only 2 or 3 units each year[4]. Moreover, most of those units are scattered over several neighborhoods or large geographic areas. Therefore, considering the large demand for affordable housing in the communities, it seems that YouthBuild programs have produced only little visible impact on the housing stock and neighborhoods.