2023 Hack-A-House Winners Announced
Ivory Innovations announced three winners of Hack-A-House, a 24-hour “hackathon” created to engage students in proposing innovative solutions to address the housing affordability crisis. A total of $12,000 was awarded to student teams competing in three categories: Finance, Policy & Regulatory Reform, and Construction & Design. Each category winner received $3,000 with Team Alcoved receiving an additional $2,000 as the grand prize winner. The "People's Choice" award recipient received an additional $1,000 based on public voting on hackahouse.org.
Abby Ivory, President of Ivory Innovations, remarked during presentations, “This is our biggest year yet. We had a record number of participants from schools across the country. We are thrilled to see the next generation’s ideas as the housing industry today needs innovation, and the housing crisis affects this generation the most.”
Ivory Innovations partnered with five universities to host in-person kick-offs and drive student participation: The University of Utah, The University of California at Berkeley, The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, The University of Arizona, and The University of Denver. The competition included 239 students from 31 schools with 90 teams registered.
“Hack-A-House is a great way to find solutions and be creative with how we can help the community. Where and how we live is such an important part of our lives. Finding creative ways to improve housing can benefit everyone,” said Bowen Wright, a member of Team HC&W, this year’s winner in the Construction & Design category. Their submission was a two-phase home that grows with your family and can also serve as an ADU.
This year’s competition was supported by experts across the housing industry and was sponsored by GroundBreak Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in real estate and property technology. Tyler Ashby, Principal at GroundBreak, served as a Hack-A-House judge and said, “These student teams are positive proof of what can happen when you put people together in one place and turn up the heat. Even with the hundreds of companies we’ve seen at GroundBreak, these students managed to show us something creative and new.”
Managing Partner at GroundBreak Ventures, Scott Kaplanis, added, “I had a blast judging the Finance category of Ivory Innovation’s Hack-A-House competition. The creativity of the participant pool was impressive, including some really novel approaches to tackling the current affordability challenges. The next generation is clearly going to turn our idea of ‘the home’ on its head!”
GroundBreak is redoubling its efforts to support ventures in the residential real estate space by raising capital for their Healthy Home Innovation Fund. They've partnered with the Scott Brothers of HGTV's "Property Brothers" to reimagine the home and back founders solving the most pressing affordability, sustainability, adaptivity, and connectivity problems.
Students competed in three separate categories: Construction & Design, Finance, and Policy & Regulatory Reform. The winners were selected from 60 submissions by industry judges and experts:
Finance (Overall Winner) – Team Alcoved (Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Rhode Island School of Design) – Alcoved proposes a new financing model for buyers purchasing a new home who could benefit from Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) rental income to qualify for a conventional mortgage. In this model, homebuyers would take out both a primary mortgage loan and an ADU construction loan, then refinance their loans once ADU rental income has stabilized.
Policy & Regulatory Reform – Team Affordable HouseCats (University of Arizona) – The Affordable HouseCats propose the Arizona Land Value Reform, a strategy to incentivize development by discouraging the holding of underutilized land through split rate tax reform.
Construction & Design – Team HC&W (Brigham Young University and University of Utah) – HC&W proposes a new housing design where buyers build an above-garage Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) as their first primary residence, then have the ability to build a set of extensions to create an additional primary residence while maintaining the ADU for rental income.
People’s Choice — Team Two Studio (US) (University of Southern California) - Two Studio (US) proposes a unique design solution utilizing waste material from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to build a floating city.
All of the student’s submissions can be viewed on our website: ivoryinnovations.org/2023-teams.
Congratulations to all of the 2023 Hack-A-House winners!
For more information about Hack-A-House, the Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability and Ivory Innovations, visit ivoryinnovations.org.
About GroundBreak Ventures: GroundBreak Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Toronto, Canada. They invest in PropTech opportunities at the pre-seed to Series A stages. They look for innovations across the industry including construction technology, VR/AR tools, and modular construction. They are currently working with their portfolio companies to reimagine underutilized spaces for business, virtual working, and community building. Visit https://groundbreakventures.com/ to learn more.