A newly completed shelter in Oakland, Calif., may be the first shelter built green, or environmentally friendly, from the ground up, reports The New York Times.

The $11-million facility, Crossroads, features many design elements intended to reduce the building’s harm to the environment, including a solar-powered roof, hydronic heating, ceiling fans, nontoxic paint, and windows that open.

The first residents of the 125-person shelter will move in next week; an estimated 6,000 homeless people reside in Alameda County over all. Wendy Jackson, executive director of the East Oakland Community Project, spent 10 years developing the facility, including seven years securing grant money from government and private agencies.

Now, with the first homeless individuals set to move into the green shelter, Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, hopes the facility will become “a model for others around the country.”

Read a Chronicle article about other efforts by nonprofit groups to promote environmentally friendly housing for needy people.

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