HomeFree is excited to announce a brand new resource designed to help architects, building owners, managers, and developers create materials guidelines that support human and environmental health in housing projects. Conceived as a complementary resource to HBN’s product guidance, this guide will walk you through how to institutionalize healthier material considerations across your projects and organization. 

This resource was co-created with support from Katelin Morgan, Design and Building Performance Associate at Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and longtime HomeFree Champion! Recommendations range from including general product type guidance (e.g. what product types to avoid or prefer) to tips and resources to help you benchmark your practice and select safer product types using HBN’s Product Hazard Spectrums. This resource is best used as a tool to engage your project team in strategic decisions involving material specification and considerations for the health and safety of the communities served by your organization.

As part of our HomeFree initiative, we collaborate with professionals in the affordable housing industry to facilitate the use of safer materials. Our work is informed by our HomeFree Champions and the feedback we receive from our wider HomeFree audience who use our resources to improve their material practice. We welcome feedback that can help us improve this and other resources we offer!

Additional resources to support your safer materials journey: