flexiblefullpage - default
Currently Reading

Tackling the 'Everywhere Problem' of Housing Affordability

Advertisement
billboard - default
Affordability

Tackling the 'Everywhere Problem' of Housing Affordability


July 20, 2018
Housing affordability_Auburn University Rural Studio 20K initiative
Photo: Unsplash/Jon Tyson

Auburn University’s Rural Studio started the 20K initiative 13 years ago to design a high-quality home for local, underserved rural communities. Today, its expanding its efforts to combat the affordability crisis holistically. 

Rusty Smith, associate director of Rural Studio, explains that since its inception in 2005, the program has realized that housing affordability concerns "are not brick and mortar problems.” To form its new multi-pronged solution, the 20K Initiative continues, but now with new partners, including government-backed mortgage lender Fannie Mae, and is in talks with Habitat for Humanity, the Department of Energy, the USDA, and more to widen its housing assistance offerings, Fast Company reports. 

Architecture students continue to work on perfecting a design for the house that has the highest possible performance–using materials ultra-efficiently, for example, and making the house stronger than the building code requires–at the lowest possible cost. But that cost will almost certainly exceed $20,000; the first house allotted for $12,000 for materials and $8,000 for construction, but the original materials used would now cost more than $25,000 and continue to rise because of economic factors. “As a point of reference, with a single tweet [from President Trump] about trade wars, the average cost of the material of the house in the United States went up six percent,” says Smith.

Read more

Advertisement
leaderboard2 - default

Related Stories

Affordability

Virginia Habitat Affiliate Completes Two More 3D-Printed Homes

Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg partnered with Alquist 3D to build two 3D-printed homes in Virginia

Community Development

Construction Starts on Affordable Housing Project in Brooklyn, NY

Clarkson Estates in Flatbush, Brooklyn, will provide 328 affordable apartments, including 164 supportive units for formerly homeless households

Government + Policy

House and Senate Bills Aim to Curb Corporate Involvement in Single-Family Housing

Two separate bills were recently introduced in Congress: one would prevent hedge funds from owning single-family homes, the other would impose fees on corporate owners

Advertisement
boombox1 -
Advertisement
native1 - default
halfpage2 -

More in Category

By addressing social determinants of human health, such as housing, Sameer Sood's FwdSlash is helping to make affordable shelter a value-based investment

Get your sales and marketing teams together to create and deliver a consistent brand message from start to finish

Successful builders can grow during this housing recession if they plan for it by maintaining liquidity, keeping up their reputation, and actively searching for opportunities

Advertisement
native2 - default
Advertisement
halfpage1 -

Create an account

By creating an account, you agree to Pro Builder's terms of service and privacy policy.


Daily Feed Newsletter

Get Pro Builder in your inbox

Each day, Pro Builder's editors assemble the latest breaking industry news, hottest trends, and most relevant research, delivered to your inbox.

Save the stories you care about

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet lorem ipsum dolor sit amet lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

The bookmark icon allows you to save any story to your account to read it later
Tap it once to save, and tap it again to unsave

It looks like you’re using an ad-blocker!

Pro Builder is an advertisting supported site and we noticed you have ad-blocking enabled in your browser. There are two ways you can keep reading:

Disable your ad-blocker
Disable now
Subscribe to Pro Builder
Subscribe
Already a member? Sign in
Become a Member

Subscribe to Pro Builder for unlimited access

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.