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A national initiative supporting affordable housing leaders who are improving human health by using less toxic building materials.
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Our Children’s Health Depends on Our Materials Choices
HBN Chief Research Officer Teresa McGrath shares how doing her job and keeping her children safe go hand in hand. This article uses a personal story to discuss two groups (or classes) of toxic chemicals found both in household dust and children’s bodies, and shares recommendations for how we can...
Read MoreModular Construction - Let’s Get it Right from the Start
In November 2020, First Community Housing and SERA Architects announced a partnership to build a 66-unit housing project in Morgan Hill, California. The 66-unit apartment building will use modular construction techniques, offering a chance to explore healthier material solutions that leverage the technologies and standardized processes that are characteristic, or...
Read MoreDr. MyDzung Chu is Committed to Environmental Justice and Health Equity
As Women’s History month is coming to a close, Healthy Building Network (HBN) would like to take a moment to amplify the voices of the next generation of environmental health leaders - the Agents of Change. If you are not following them, you are falling behind! Today, we will take...
Read MoreHBN Joins Industry Leaders in Antimicrobials Statement
In the COVID-19 era, the building products industry has seen a notable increase in demand for materials containing antimicrobials. Antimicrobials, however, are typically not added to products to protect people from harm. Healthy Building Network partnered with others in the building products sector, the architecture and design community, and experts...
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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.