Decarbonization and Affordable Housing Round Table

Decarbonization and Affordable Housing Round Table

California is facing critical challenges to build more affordable housing, reduce structural inequities from pollution, and meet our legislated carbon reduction goals. This Roundtable will address how efficient electric building technologies combined with clean, renewable energy can lower construction and operating cost, improve health outcomes, and dramatically lower emissions. To date thirty-one California cities have passed electrification reach codes to encourage this transition. Please join us and this expert panel discussing opportunities and challenges for decarbonizing the most fundamental building block of an equitable, low-carbon future: affordable housing.

This program has been organized by AIA California Committee on the Environment.

SPEAKERS:

Matthew Gough – Senior Campaign Representative, Sierra Club (Moderator)
Tim Kohut, AIA – Director of Sustainable Design, National Community Renaissance
John Delaney, LEED AP BD+C – Architect, KoningEizenberg Architecture
Tara Barauskas – Executive Director, Community Corporation Santa Monica
Jason Lorcher, P.E. – Principal & Founder, Green Dinosaur

REGISTER HERE.

SPEAKER BIOS:

Tim Kohut, AIA – Director of Sustainable Design, National Community Renaissance
Tim Kohut, AIA, is Director of Sustainable Design with National Community Renaissance, a regional Developer/Builder of affordable housing. Tim works with design teams, construction teams and subcontractors implementing strategies aimed at high performance and energy efficiency. He is a Certified Energy Analyst (CEA), Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Rater, and Building Performance Institute (BPI)Energy Analyst. Tim has spent more than 20 years designing, building, and consulting on affordable housing projects throughout Southern California.

John Delaney, LEED AP BD+C – Architect, KoningEizenberg Architecture
John is a project architect and sustainability coordinator at Koning Eizenberg Architecture with a research focus on policy, construction methods, technologies, and materials, with particular emphasis on affordable housing. He has contributed to numerous award-winning buildings in the US and abroad and brings expertise in building systems and BIM integration. He is a LEED Accredited Professional and is managing the firm’s 2030 Challenge initiative, which is striving to combine a holistic, community-centered, socially-conscious design approach with optimized building performance. John has a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Southern California where he was awarded the Henry James Medal for excellence in architecture. He lives with his wife Megan in Santa Monica and enjoys cooking, baking, and spending his Sundays on the soccer field.

Tara Barauskas – Executive Director, Community Corporation Santa Monica
Tara Barauskas began her career in affordable housing in 1999. Her journey began with a for-profit affordable housing development company, developing affordable housing projects throughout the state of California. Following that, Ms. Barauskas was the Director of Housing for A Community of Friends, a nonprofit permanent supportive housing owner and developer in Los Angeles. In that capacity she oversaw the development of numerous permanent supportive housing projects in LA, Orange County and Inland Empire. Since 2016, Ms. Barauskas is the Executive Director of Community Corporation of Santa Monica, a nonprofit affordable housing organization based in Santa Monica, California. In this role she oversees the functional areas of the organization, including management of 1,800 units of affordable housing, housing development, resident services, maintenance and administration of 80 staff. While Community Corp. currently owns and operates close to 100 buildings in Santa Monica, the organization is now expanding to develop affordable housing in the greater Westside area, with a new project breaking ground in Mar Vista in January 2020 and another one in planning stages in Culver City.
Ms. Barauskas holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from California State University, Long Beach, and a LEED AP Accreditation from the US Green Building Council. She is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH), an affordable housing advocacy organization. In addition, she currently serves on the Board of Directors for Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., and the Board of the Santa Monica Bay Area Human Relations Council.

Jason Lorcher, P.E. – Principal & Founder, Green Dinosaur
Jason founded Green Dinosaur 13 years ago with a vision of using business as a force for good for people and the planet. Today Green Dinosaur, Inc. is a Certified B Corp that meets the highest standards of overall social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability and aspires to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. Jason brings over 27 years of professional engineering experience across a broad portfolio of projects demonstrating his unique passion for informed, rigorous, environmentally-responsible buildings. Green Dinosaur is made up with a diverse group of professionals and skill sets from engineering, architecture, interior design & environmental science, leading green rating certifications of more than 140 affordable housing projects among other vertical sectors in higher education, institutional and commercial projects. Green Dinosaur Offices are located in Culver City, San Diego, and Seattle.

Matthew Gough – Senior Campaign Representative, Sierra Club (Moderator)
Matt Gough works for the Sierra Club as a senior campaign representative on building electrification. His focus centers on California cities, where he works with grassroots advocates, community stakeholders, and city government officials to design, advocate for, and implement building electrification policy. Matt comes to the Sierra Club and building electrification work from a community organizing background; he ran canvass offices and organized students on college campuses in the midwest and across California for a number of years before settling down in Oakland, CA. When Matt isn’t pushing heat pumps and induction stoves on anyone who will listen, you’ll likely find him in the mountains riding bikes, or in a hammock reading a book.

REGISTER HERE.

Image credit:  KoningEizenberg Architecture