Newswise — The Center for Sustainable Development at The University of Texas at Austin will prove that green housing and affordability can be successfully merged during the unveiling of “The Alley Flat Initiative” exhibition from 6-8 pm. on March 26 at Austin’s City Hall.

The Alley Flat Initiative, conceived in 2005 as a challenge for architecture students to design sustainable, affordable housing in East Austin, grew into an award-winning collaboration between the Center for Sustainable Development, the Austin Community Design and Development Center and the Guadalupe Development Corporation.

The initiative simultaneously addresses issues of sustainability, high cost of living and urban sprawl in Central Austin neighborhoods through the provision of green affordable infill homes that connect with the smart grid model of distributed infrastructure, while retaining the neighborhood character.

The Sierra Club recently identified Austin as one of the most ‘sprawl-threatened’ cities in the country, meaning that it is crucial for future land use patterns to find ways to increase density without losing the character of the neighborhoods or doing further harm to the environment.

“In the last 10 years, housing prices have increased nearly 85% while the median family income increased only 25%,” said Barbara Brown Wilson, assistant director of the Center for Sustainable Development. “As a result, families in Austin are finding it increasingly difficult to afford to live with in the city limits and are moving further out, threatening Austin’s diversity and character.

“In addition, we’ve found that alley flats are ideal for families wanting multigenerational housing options. For instance, one of our family’s wheel-chair bound grandmother now lives safely, independently and with dignity, but engages directly everyday with her grandchildren.”

Alley flats are small, detached secondary residential units, often accessed from Austin’s extensive network of underutilized alleys. They are carefully designed to use 40% less energy and 20% less water, minimizing the ecological footprint of the building.

The two flats completed under the program to date both received the highest rating from the Austin Energy Green Building Program are already being rented to low- and moderate-income households in East Austin. Ten more of these green, affordable units are in some stage of design or development.

The initiative includes not only efficient housing designs constructed with sustainable technologies, but also innovative methods of financing and home ownership that can benefit neighborhoods in any city in the United States.

In 2008, the Alley Flat Initiative received an award for Excellence in Green Building Pedagogy from the United States Green Building Council. In May 2009, the initiative received the Envision Central Texas Community Stewardship Award for Redevelopment and the Greenlights Award for Excellence in Collaboration.

The exhibit runs from March 26-April 9 at Austin’s City Hall.