Betances Residence – Passive House for Supportive Senior Housing

Project Background

Breaking Ground is New York’s largest provider of street outreach and supportive housing. Betances is its first Passive House residence and supports homeless and low-income seniors.

Twenty-five percent of the building’s 152 units are available to seniors through the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), 45 units are for homeless seniors, and the remaining units are for seniors with an income of less than 50% of the area median. The building includes active design features, outdoor gardens, a fitness room, library, a computer room, accessible accommodations, and a community facility, as well as social services support to refer tenants to medical care providers.

Project Services 

SWA worked with the project team since the early design phase to ensure Betances was built to Passive House and Enterprise Green Communities standards. The firm also provided incentive programs support, and as a result, the project was awarded funding from NYSERDA’s New Construction Program.

SWA provided energy code commissioning services for the HVAC, domestic hot water, and lighting control systems. Through design reviews and functional testing, SWA verified that energy-related systems perform efficiently and reliably and maintain occupant comfort. As part of its high-performance design, Betances features a 30 kW photovoltaic (PV) system that offsets 10% of the building’s site energy.

SWA is conducting a system overview training for building staff and a post-occupancy walkthrough to ensure that the building continues to be high-performing.