Here's an example of what can be done.
Salus offers housing for adults with mental illness. They are building the largest scale multi-residential affordable housing project built to Passive House standards in North America. It is also the first affordable housing project in the world targeting International Passive Housing certification in a Northern Climate.
Passive houses aim to bring energy usage to an absolute minimum.
They got some coverage on Ottawa Morning on CBC. Give a listen.
[audio mp3="https://ecologyottawa3.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/salus-clementine.mp3"][/audio]