During last Friday’s kickoff ceremony for the Innovative Housing Showcase, Secretary Marcia L. Fudge announced a new partnership between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Terner Housing Innovation Labs at UC Berkeley (Terner Labs) to convene an event series focused on the implications of new technologies for housing supply, access, equity, and affordability.
HUD and Terner Labs will convene leaders from the public sector, housing experts, researchers, technologists, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and others to explore technological advances at the forefront of the housing industry. The series will highlight emerging technological innovations and the opportunities they present to advance HUD’s mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. The series will also identify the challenges that new technologies present and ways that public- and private-sector leaders can work together to accelerate progress and mitigate risks.
“HUD’s Innovative Housing Showcase spotlights promising technological advances in building construction,” said Solomon Greene, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at HUD. “This event series will complement the Showcase by examining the impacts of technology on other facets of the housing market.”
“In light of recent advances in the technology landscape and increasingly dire housing affordability challenges, the timing could not be better for this event series. We need to harness emerging innovations and incorporate new technology if we hope to ensure that housing is available and accessible for as many Americans as possible,” said Ben Metcalf, the Chief Executive Officer of Terner Labs.
Events in this series will be held in locations across the country over the next year, culminating with a convening that will take place as part of the 2024 Innovative Housing Showcase.