Kimberly Vermeer

Biography: Kimberly Vermeer, LEED AP Homes, is a multi-disciplinary green building and sustainability practitioner, with a special focus in the multifamily affordable housing sector. Through her company, Urban Habitat Initiatives Inc., she offers strategic consulting to community development corporations and other affordable housing developers to advance sustainability and climate resilience. Committed to delivering the benefits of green building to vulnerable populations, Kim works with teams to incorporate energy efficiency and renewable energy, water conservation, healthy housing and climate resilience into their projects. She directs project certification through LEED or Enterprise Green Communities rating systems, as well as the LEED for Neighborhood Development (ND) rating system for larger master-planned projects. Ms. Vermeer is co-author, with Walker Wells, of the recently published book Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing, Revised Edition, released in July 2020. Ms. Vermeer is also an experienced teacher and educator, and was recently a Practitioner Scholar at UMass Boston, co-teaching an environmental science capstone course. She has also developed, planned and facilitated many professional education and peer learning events. Her background includes housing finance, policy and development. She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Kingdom of Tonga. She received her bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master in City and Regional Planning degree from the Harvard Kennedy School.