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Rethinking the Single-Family Home

Priority: High | Cost: High | Implementation: Long

Land use directly contributes 8% to global greenhouse gas emissions. This often comes from converting natural greenspace into human settlement. However, while only making up 8% of global emissions, land use can also shape fossil fuel emissions that make up 85% of global greenhouse gas emissions (Blacksburg Climate Action Plan, 2016). Therefore, it is paramount that Green New Deal funding be directed to ameliorate land use-based greenhouse emissions within the Town of Blacksburg.

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​Blacksburg has an ample amount of single-family housing. These are standalone structures that are legally allowed to house only a single family. They are prevalent across the United States and are the result of the post-WWII economic boom, population boom, and the advent of ‘assembly line’ suburban development all occurring simultaneously. These have continued to perpetuate ever since because for many, the homeownership they accompany represents the pinnacle of the American dream. However, they are inefficient. Because they are disparate and typically surrounded by yards, they are more expensive per capita to provide resources to than apartments. Utility lines, sewer, roads, etc. have to be run across further distances and can be expensive to maintain even after their installation. Many older homes
 

are also energy inefficient, leaking and wasting heat and water that ultimately raise their greenhouse gas emissions profile. 

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There are two things that the town needs to do to address this issue.

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The first is retrofitting older, inefficient homes to decrease their energy use (and therefore, their carbon contribution). Green New Deal funding ought to be used to assist homeowners and property owners in updating homes and buildings that are leaky and uninsulated, meaning they require more energy to function the same as a modern home. As this would be an expensive endeavor, how this is accomplished would depend on the amount of Green New Deal funding that the town received.

A larger grant could be used to help all homeowners upgrade their older homes completely free of charge to them. This could be done over a longer period of time to keep costs a little lower. With a smaller grant, the town could instead upgrade homes free of charge for those making less than the town’s median income while providing those same services for those making more instead with an interest-free loan in a system similar to that of the solar initiative. This would keep costs to the homeowner at a minimum and guarantee that they still come out financially on top. Ideally, participation in the home efficiency upgrade would also accompany participation in the solar initiative so that while their homes would be able to retain and use energy more effectively, that energy would also be carbon-free. 

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The second is adapting town zoning ordinances to be proactive. The reality is that single family homes will continue to remain in demand. The millennial generation that was famously supposed to kill off the single-family home now finds themselves migrating to those same suburban neighborhoods to raise their families (Adamczyk, 2019). The single-family home remains a part of the American dream and of the cultural notion of success, and therefore as the town experiences population growth not just in the student demographic but also in the academic and professional demographics it is likely that new single-family housing will continue to be built in Blacksburg and the New River Valley as a whole.

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This new housing, then, needs to remedy some of the mistakes of the old. The single-family housing zoning ordinance needs to be updated to implement the principles of new urbanism and sustainable development. This will require a reimagining of the concept of the neighborhood somewhat. Rather than being defined by large yards and long streets, new urbanist suburban developments feature very small yards and closer-knit homes. Greenspace is instead provided as a public amenity located within a short walk of the home. Streets are narrow and multimodal, automobile traffic is slow and disincentivized. Commercial necessities like restaurants and grocery stores are provided within walking distance. Examples of what successful new urbanist suburban development looks like can be seen with the Kentlands development in Gaithersburg, Maryland, which was designed in part by the pioneers of the new urbanism movement itself.

 

Rethinking the single-family home neighborhood in this image accomplishes a vast range of goals. It reduces the need for automobile travel and instead promotes active travel by bicycle or on foot. This is especially true when these neighborhoods are linked with complete streets. This helps ameliorate transportation-based greenhouse gas emissions. It increases density, which as mentioned in the upzoning initiative reduces the per capita cost of providing water, utilities, and power - also lowering the carbon footprint of each household. Additionally, because of the reduced development footprint, more homes and people can be fit into a smaller geographic area, lessening the greenfield development needed to house the town’s projected population growth and serving the goal of farmland conservation. These all together make for more sustainable urban development (Tylman and Cysek-Pawlak, 2019). These are just the environmental benefits - there are numerous lifestyle and economic benefits, as these neighborhoods tend to be livelier, healthier, and more economically vibrant as well (Bolton, 2020). 

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By rethinking the single-family home and bringing the American dream into the 21st century, Blacksburg will be able to have both their homes and a sustainable future.
 

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