Neighborhood Nonprofit Spotlight: Enhabit

Patch talks to Enhabit about the work it does to keep Oregon homes energy efficient and environmentally responsible.

Patch: Tell Patch a little bit about your organization!

Enhabit: Enhabit (formerly Clean Energy Works) is a non-profit organization that helps homeowners make their homes work better. Before we opened our doors, only 200 homes were being upgraded in Oregon each year. The sector was in dire need of a more simplified process for homeowners to complete projects that improve the safety, comfort, efficiency and health of their homes.

Today, Enhabit has activated a powerful collaboration of local contractors, lenders, governments, and utilities to upgrade more than 5,000 homes. We serve homeowners in many ways, performing energy efficiency upgrades, seismic retrofits, solar assessment and installation and addressing indoor air quality issues. Enhabit matches homeowners with local, diverse, certified contractors, provides independent advice, and offers low-interest financing to make projects more affordable.

Patch: How does your organization help to strengthen the local community?

Enhabit: Enhabit partners with local governments and utilities to strengthen the communities it serves by improving the efficiency, health and safety of older homes. This benefits the occupants in many ways, and it also helps the community as a whole be more efficient, cut carbon emissions, and be resilient to extreme weather, earthquakes and air pollution. Since it’s launch in 2009, Enhabit has conducted deep retrofits of more than 5,000 homes, resulting in a reduction of 6,500 metric tons per year in carbon emission. Our work has generated more than $100 million in local economic activity and created 500 new living-wage construction jobs.

Enhabit also supports training for emerging, women- and minority-owned businesses, and has worker wage and health benefits agreements with all Enhabit contractor partners. Public safety is a high priority for Enhabit. One example is the looming threat of a significant seismic event in the Pacific Northwest, posed by the Cascadia Subduction Zone and numerous faults. We work to prepare homes and homeowners through seismic retrofits. This will help protect lives and keep people in their homes if a major earthquake occurs. Air quality is an emerging concern in many locations. What people may not realize is that the air quality inside a homes may be worse than it is outside. Build up of moisture, dust and allergens can exacerbate health conditions like asthma. Radon buildup is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Enhabit helps homeowners make changes to their homes to reduce the risks from these threats.

Patch: What is the biggest struggle your organization faces?

Enhabit: When homeowners set out to remodel their homes, style and functionality are often top of mind. As homeowners think about making their homes look better, the critical but less visible improvements aren’t always on the radar. Often people don’t realize that older homes can be made as comfortable, efficient and safe as new ones, and costs significantly less to operate over time. There’s also a perceived difficulty in finding quality contractors who can do this type of work, and confusion about energy rebates and costs. That’s where Enhabit can help.

Patch: What do you hope for the future of your nonprofit?

Enhabit: I look forward to Enhabit becoming a household name as it spreads this important work to more homes and leads efforts to address climate change and resiliency in the Northwest. We aim to educate homeowners so that they’re well-prepared to address important energy, health and safety issues, and have the tools they need to operate their homes affordably now and well into the future. Learn more about Enhabit and sign up for a no-cost home assessment at Enhabit

Image via Michael French, Enhabit