StreetWell GSI adoption could return $7 for every $1 invested
StreetWell is a Baltimore community-led investor using an Impact Real Estate Portfolio (IREP) to revitalize properties located in historically marginalized neighborhoods. StreetWell borrows from a Community Development Financial Institution to acquire, renovate, and then lease distressed homes in areas hollowed out by decades of disinvestment and discriminatory policy. Loans are repaid through leases, and IREP equity is distributed to workers, tenants, and community partners through multi-stakeholder trusts and cooperatives.
The City of Baltimore has a ‘very high’ heat risk, with over 90 percent of homes at severe risk. Its 50-mile shoreline periodically floods following heavy rains. As climate change intensifies, Baltimore is expected to experience extreme temperatures and fluctuations between flooding and drought.
StreetWell is considering adding environmental goals to support climate adaptation. This could include planting rain gardens and trees, developing living roofs, and gray/stormwater reuse.
Earth Economics supported StreetWell in quantifying and valuing the benefits that would be created by developing GSI on their properties. By valuing the non-market benefits, the additional capital investment required may be more attractive to socially conscious investors.
StreetWell’s 30 properties have a combined 27,855 sq ft of impermeable surfaces (including roofs) and 32 trees in backyards and in planting strips at the front of properties. StreetWell could plant an additional 25 trees and create 2,500 sq ft of rain gardens in backyards and planting strips with support from the city to replace sidewalks. While these GSI features would not offset all runoff from StreetWell properties, it would significantly reduce it. By deploying GSI on its properties, StreetWell could create $2 million in ecosystem services over twenty-five years, a return of $7 for every $1 invested.
In the future, StreetWell could expand their community benefits by adopting or buying lots near their properties to deploy GSI, and by partnering with the city and state to place GSI on adjacent public land.
