For homeowner Adam Blough, the March 2025 all-electric, nearly $60,000 retrofit his house received through the Evanston Green Homes program to help owners of affordable homes reduce greenhouse gas emissions is one sign among many of the historically Black community’s renaissance.  

“This is the best place to be in Evanston,” Blough said during a tour he led recenltly for Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, Fifth Ward Alderman Bobby Burns, journalists from the Evanston Roundtable and Evanston Now, staff from Center for Neighborhood Technology and Elevate, and the owner of Franto Environmental, the contractor leading work through the basement and kitchen of his two-bedroom home. He highlighted new conduit outdoors leading to a new 200-amp electric box in the basement, plus new insulation and a new induction stove in the kitchen. He also showed off ongoing installation of a high-efficiency heat pump and electric hot water pump — replacing outdated gas-powered systems.

Blough's home is the first of 30-plus units of affordable housing receiving retrofits focusing on health and safety, weatherization improvements, and energy efficiency to increase health and comfort and reduce utility costs. It’s being paid for by a mix of federal American Rescue Plan funds and the city’s Good Neighbor Fund (support from Northwestern University for the city). 

The roots of the program are in the city’s climate policy, which calls for carbon neutrality by 2050, a goal set in 2018. Retrofits are essential to meet the goal, with 80% of Evanston’s greenhouse gases emitted by buildings. Green Homes Evanston is providing investment to keep homes affordable while also providing improvements that build toward the decarbonization goal.

The project also focuses on providing resources to Evanston’s historic African American community. Blough’s home sits across from a former community hospital that was the main resource for healthcare for Black Evanstonians in the 1950s, and around the corner from where the city is building Foster School in the neighborhood, named after a community school that closed in 1979.

Mayor Daniel Biss highlighted that ‘triple bottom line’ of taking action for climate action, maintaining affordablility and retaining diversity at a news conference after touring Blough’s home: “We are committed to taking needed climate action. We are committed to making and keeping Evanston affordable. We are committed to retaining the diversity of this community and only through projects like this can we achieve all those objectives simultaneously,” he said. 

Biss and others who spoke after the house tour highlighted the partnerships that came together to make Green Homes Evanston work: “These transformations that move away from using fossil fuels are necessary—and, if we don't partner like this, they could be prohibitively expensive. These kinds of partnerships that bring together public resources, private resources, philanthropic resources to act as a demonstration project are critical for moving our community where we need to go.”

Fifth Ward Alderman Bobby Burns shared how the Evanston Green Homes pilot — which has focused on households in two U.S. Census tracts in the city, 8092 and 8102, and households earning 80% or less of Area Median Income, which is about $89,700 for a family of four — is helping residents of the community.

“Thank you for signing up for this and being a part of this program,” Burns said. “When I knock on doors in the community, home improvement always, always comes up. It's important to try to find the resources… sometimes it's the difference between whether or not somebody feels like they can stay in their home if they can find the dollars to make those important improvements, to hold the value of the home and to make it livable.”

Leaders from CNT and Elevate also spoke briefly after the tour.

Amy Jewel, Elevate Vice President of Programs, noted that the program brings together many different partners, in order to make the process easier for homeowners and tenants: “We want to highlight that community based organizations, locally based contractors, municipal government and public funding sources all really came together for this project,” Jewel said. “We're so excited to continue this program, transforming more homes across Evanston and ensuring everyone can access healthy, energy efficient living spaces.”

Nina Idemudia, AICP, Chief Executive Officer of Center for Neighborhood Technology, noted that Evanston Green Homes is a pilot program that both captures carbon and also advances systemic reforms by ensuring improvements also preserve affordable housing: “We work on democratizing the built environment and doing long term systems change,” she said. “Part of that is being able to show programs like this are not only possible, they're scalable and you can build them around the community in the context in which you need them.”

Retrofits will vary with each home and focus on health and safety, reducing carbon emissions, and increasing value and comfort, making the program a win-win for the environment and residents. After the retrofits are completed, staff from Elevate and Center for Neighborhood Technology plan to return to measure the impact of the program. Changes they will be looking for include reduced energy costs in the form of lower utility bills and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the homes.