Breitung Veterans Apartments

...Built Architecture, Pacific Power’s Blue Sky program participants, and Do Good Multnomah diligently worked together to see their goal of housing 28 previously houseless Veterans from the Greater Portland community come to fruition.

Do Good Multnomah is dedicated to working with Veterans who have experienced houselessness and provides support services for the Veterans living in the new Breitung Building. One of the core points of focus for this new building is providing housing opportunities for underserved and overrepresented Veteran populations, particularly those from communities of color and those who have been involuntarily displaced from the community.

The project also tapped a fantastic source of funds from Pacific Power via their Blue Sky grant program for renewable energy on projects that benefit the community. This enabled the design team to make use of all available roof space for energy production without adding a financial burden to this affordable housing project. From there, the team realized the project was optimally positioned to utilize the Energy Trust of Oregon’s Path-to-Net-Zero incentive program to further reduce utility costs. Identifying affordable improvements to insulation and air sealing along with select high-performance innovative systems, these incentive dollars covered the cost of the completed building that will use 70% less energy than a standard code-compliant building. Please see the included materials for more detailed information.

Overall, these innovative design and construction methods paired with these close partnerships have allowed these organizations to provide support to Veterans who have struggled to afford quality housing and will permanently benefit the community as a whole.

...provide cost-effective modular housing for vets leveraging our skills and connections to bring them the most benefit possible within the project budget. Applying leverage is exactly what the design team did, starting with an application for a solar grant from Pacific Power’s Blue Sky program to fund solar PV. Based on the project’s mission, the grant was won, putting the project in a position to utilize ETO’s Path-to-Net-Zero program to fund energy analysis and explore cost-effective options that would allow the owner to avoid charging the residents for any utilities. Given this huge potential benefit, the design team identified the strategies that worked best within the capabilities of the modular manufacturer and on-site subcontractors as well as their supply chains.

Many of the identified measures were nearly cost neutral including the plumbing fixtures, appliances, improved glazing, roof insulation (offsetting fire protection cost), conditioned crawlspace, and more. Other elements such as the plant selections, reduced lighting, and material efficiency efforts actually reduced cost.

The only item of additional expense but of huge benefit in terms of energy is the heat pump water heating system, which the ETO program essentially covered in full. While there were some new challenges to sort out in using this system and in leveraging the grant and incentive programs, at the end of the day, our commitment to these partnerships and their results represent some fantastic wins for the project and the Veterans who now call it home.