Newswise — SALT LAKE CITY - Amidst a raging housing market and rapidly declining affordability, Ivory Innovations announced the 2021 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability winners. These winners include BamCore and Curtis and Ginsberg Architects in Construction and Design, KeepHome by Framework in Finance, and Impact Justice’s Homecoming Project in the Public Policy and Regulatory Reform category.
“When we started the Ivory Prize three years ago, we already had a housing affordability crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified that crisis,” said Clark Ivory, founder of the Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability and CEO of Ivory Homes. “We are thrilled to recognize four amazing innovators that are providing unique and impactful contributions to solving our nation’s affordability challenges.”
Through Ivory Innovations, more than two hundred thousand dollars is awarded between the winners selected from each of the three award components. These winners were selected from 160 applicants from 37 states. In addition to financial support, the Ivory Innovations network includes interns, capital partners, and strategic planning. Additionally, a finalist from the Ivory Prize will also go through the Housing Lab accelerator at the Terner Center at UC Berkeley.
The 2021 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability Winners:
Construction and Design (tie) - Sustainable Bamboo with BamCore – Windsor, California: Since April 2020, “unprecedented spikes in lumber prices have added now more than $35,000 to the price of the average, new single-family home,” according to the National Home Builders Association. BamCore’s innovative bamboo-based framing solution has the potential to address this crippling rise in material costs, provide a more climate positive supply chain, reduce the need for skilled labor and speed up the build time by more than 50 percent, while producing a much more energy-efficient home. Learn more about BamCore with this video.
Construction and Design (tie) - Healthier Buildings with Curtis and Ginsberg Architects – New York City, New York: Often, sustainability and affordability are competitive goals for housing development. However, Curtis and Ginsberg Architects are pioneering new approaches to break through the budgetary barriers that previously made building energy-efficient and affordable multifamily housing difficult. Curtis and Ginsberg Architects has designed the largest completed Passive House affordable housing building in the Unitewd States. Their primary strategy in designing energy-efficient Passive House standards is to reduce the operational cost of buildings, in turn maintaining affordability long after a building is built, while also providing healthier buildings for residents. Learn more about Custis and Ginsberg with this video.
Finance - Preparing for Homeownership with Keep by Framework – Boston, Massachusetts: Framework® Homeownership's Keep by Framework helps home buyers understand the process to purchase a home and how best to maintain and stay in that home for the long term. With an emphasis on first-time, first-generation potential homeowners, Keep guides users through the entire process of purchasing a home, with a keen focus on how to assist homebuyers confronting structural and persistent racial barriers, to democratize the homebuying process. Learn more about Keep by Framework with this video.
Policy and Regulatory Reform - Housing After Incarceration with Impact Justice / The Homecoming Project – Oakland, California: Thousands of Americans are not only priced out of affordable housing but are often intentionally left out of many housing options. The Homecoming Project is a program that ensures successful reentry back into communities by providing safe and stable housing and a welcoming host. Formerly incarcerated people can integrate more easily into the community by quick placement into stable housing right out of prison. Learn more about the Homecoming Project with this video.
The finalists and winners for the Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability are determined by Ivory Innovations’ Advisory Board, which is composed of some of the top minds in housing, with support from the Ivory Innovations fellows and Ivory Innovations associates. This includes:
- Clark Ivory, President and Trustee of the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation and CEO of Ivory Homes, Utah’s largest homebuilder;
- Kent Colton, Chair of the Ivory Innovations’ Advisory Board and President of the Colton Housing Group;
- Carol Galante, Faculty Director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California at Berkeley;
- Laurie Goodman, Urban Institute Vice President and Co-director of its Housing Finance Policy Center;
- Chris Herbert, Managing Director of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies;
- Matt Hoffman, founder of HousingTech Ventures and previously served as Vice President of Innovation for Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.
- Jonathan Lawless, former Vice President for Product Development and Affordable Housing at Fannie Mae.
- Natalie Gochnour, Director of Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute and Associate Dean at the University of Utah;
- John McManus, Founder, and President of The Builder’s Daily; and,
- Ryan Smith, Director, and Professor of the Washington State University School of Design and Construction.
The winners of the 2020 Ivory Prize are selected from the Top 10 finalists announced in April. For more information about the Ivory Prize and Ivory Innovations, check out this video or visit www.ivory-innovations.org.
About Ivory Innovations: Ivory Innovations is an applied academic institution and foundation dedicated to catalyzing innovative solutions in housing affordability. Utilizing its network and resources, Ivory Innovations promotes the most compelling ideas in housing affordability, working across sectors and providing monetary awards with the Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability. Additionally, in partnership with the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, Ivory Innovations places students at the center of its efforts, through Hack-A-House – an annual entrepreneurial competition - as well as scholarships, a course on Innovations in Housing, and internships that allow students to be at the center of the Ivory Prize search. For more information about the Ivory Prize and Ivory Innovations, visit www.ivory-innovations.org.
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