Welcome to HomeFree
A national initiative supporting affordable housing leaders who are improving human health by using less toxic building materials.
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New HomeFree Resources for Choosing Safer Drywall
Healthy Building Network has made it easy to select safer drywall for your next project. Our new Drywall Hazard Spectrum was just added to our HomeFree product guidance resources.
Read MoreSelecting the Wrong Drywall Could Introduce Mercury into the Environment
Make a big impact without paying more or sacrificing performance by ensuring your specification provides an incentive for drywall with: 1. The lowest amount of pre-consumer recycled content you can find; prefer natural gypsum over synthetic gypsum. 2. A preference for post-consumer recycled content. To promote a more circular, sustainable...
Read MoreChoosing Drywall Accessory Products
Several types of accessory products are commonly used in drywall installation. Paper tape and joint compound, also referred to as ‘mud,’ are used for sealing the joints between drywall panels. Sealants may also be used to seal gaps for acoustical reasons. Here are some general rules of thumb to use...
Read MoreHealthy Building Network Welcomes Roberto Valle Kinloch as the new HomeFree Manager
HBN is thrilled to announce new leadership of our HomeFree program. Please join us in welcoming Roberto Valle Kinloch!
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DonateFeatured User
Ruchi Shah
Senior Sustainability Manager, Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
Ruchi is a Senior Sustainability Manager at Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), one of the largest multifamily affordable housing developers in San Francisco. She leads sustainability in the built-environment initiatives for a portfolio of over 50 buildings (circa 3.5 Million Sq. ft and 5000 units). Under her leadership, TNDC has reduced portfolio-wide energy and water usage by over 20 % as part of the National Better Buildings Challenge and announced the planning of a portfolio-wide carbon and waste reduction strategy in 2019.
Ruchi has over 8 years of experience in sustainability across real estate and consulting sectors, helping companies reduce operating costs and manage climate risks. Ruchi is a LEED Green Associate, a Fitwel Ambassador, and holds a Master’s in Sustainability from the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), and a Bachelor’s in Biotechnology from Mumbai, India.
As a HomeFree Champion, Ruchi leads demonstration projects to identify healthier flooring, insulation, and air-sealant solutions that meet cost and performance criteria for affordable housing projects. With support from the HBN research team, Ruchi developed a practical materials guidance resource that will help her design team and architects specify healthier materials across TNDC’s low-income multifamily project portfolio. Together, TNDC and HomeFree are exploring opportunities for making this resource available to the HomeFree user community.