The Triple Win: Climate-Smart Forest Products for Affordable Housing and a More Vibrant Wood Products Economy (2022 & 2023)
February 2023
The Triple Threat
The science of climate change is unassailable. At Hubbard Brook, the impacts across the Northern Forest have been documented over more than 50 years of routine, rigorous long-term scientific measurements and continuous ecosystem monitoring. We simultaneously face a housing supply crisis. According to Fannie Mae, the pre-pandemic shortage in the U.S. was estimated at 3.8 million units. Starting from a baseline housing deficit, broken supply chains and historic workforce shortages hindered COVID-era construction. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont are confronting an average shortfall of 18,200 affordable rental units, and modest-priced homes are disappearing, making ownership increasingly unaffordable for average families. Over the past several decades, our regional forest products sector has also suffered a cascade of destabilizing blows, beginning with a declining market for low-grade wood products, including paper and pulp. The resulting layoffs and mill closures left once-vibrant rural communities in the tightening grip of economic depression, chronic unemployment, and addiction.
The Triple Win
We now have a special opportunity to address these challenges simultaneously. At this moment in U.S. history, there is an unusual alignment of solutions-based science, environmental awareness, political will, public and private funding, and a shift toward corporate sustainability and consumer responsibility. Together, at the intersection of science, housing development, and forest products, we can achieve a triple win to combat climate change, meet the needs of our growing population, and rebuild our forest-based economy. By working across sectors and disciplines, we intend to:
- Reinvigorate our region’s forest products economy by building new markets and capacity around climate-smart wood. This will include new infrastructure for converting low-grade wood into high-quality construction materials.
- Catalyze a skilled, high-tech workforce for managing forests using the latest technology, data science, and satellite images. New forest employment opportunities will span the following sectors: forest products, technology/innovation, and corporate sustainability.
- Incentivize housing developments that incorporate regionally sourced, climate-smart wood products. The focus will be on wood harvested according to carbon forestry practices to protect carbon stocks, enhance healthy forest regeneration, and amplify landscape-scale carbon sequestration. Harvested wood will continue to store carbon over its usable lifespan as a durable, long-lasting, high-performing construction material.
- Mobilize financing from impact investors, institutional partners, and public sources (e.g., the IRA, Infrastructure Bill, and the 2023 Farm Bill). Sensing this special opportunity, on May 2, 2022, the Emerging Climate Leaders Collaborative hosted a virtual youth forum at the intersection of climate, forests, and housing. Building on the success of this initial event, we convened an expanded group of thought leaders on October 17, 2022 with expertise in carbon forestry, forest management and conservation, forest products, housing development, clean energy, and public policy (summary). We reconvened with additional partners on February 2, 2023 to review progress, explore questions and ideas, and map out next steps.
Based on these action-oriented dialogues, we are building momentum and have identified a range of objectives, as we move from abstract concepts to practical applications, including:
- Public programs designed to incentivize buying regionally sourced, climate-smart wood products (e.g., rebates).
- Low-income tax credits for affordable housing developments that incorporate regionally sourced, climate-smart wood (i.e., Qualified Allocation Plans via State Housing Authorities).
- Regional corporate partners with a commitment to corporate responsibility and a willingness to test procurement strategies based on regionally sourced, climate-smart wood.
- Investments in new infrastructure and technology for processing traditional wood materials, cross-laminated timber, wood fiber insulation, etc.
- Consumer and industry awareness campaigns highlighting the value of forest management for a healthy balance of ecosystem services, including carbon, wildlife/habitat, clean air/water, recreation, etc. Restore the “social license” to practice forestry.
- Creative workforce development. For example, Ukrainian refugees are migrating to our region from a well-established forest sector. Incentivized certification, training, and employment opportunities would enable political refugees to quickly access living wages as part of a skilled “New American Forest Workforce.”
If we are successful, our region will lead the nation by blending our rugged, rural, forest-based values with cutting-edge science and technology to achieve a triple-win for climate, affordable housing, and our forest products economy.
