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The Cost of Time in Development: Lessons from The Little Book
Our newest resource, The Little Book of Low-Cost, High-Impact Housing Solutions, captures and shares this momentum. Rather than dwelling on scarcity or constraints, it showcases the practical tools, proven strategies, and inspiring success stories that are already reshaping what’s possible in housing policy and delivery.
Dec 12, 20254 min read


Innovation on the Go: How America’s Production Builders are Shaping the Future of Housing
The reality is that innovation in home building isn’t a single breakthrough; rather, it’s a structured process of experimentation, testing, and scaling.
Dec 11, 20255 min read


Will The Fed Rate Cut Help Housing Affordability?
On Wednesday, September 17th, the Federal Reserve voted to cut rates for the first time in 2025, and signaled that more cuts are on the way. This move was in response to growing concerns over the slowing labor market, and the hope is that by making borrowing cheaper, economic growth will follow and help turn the tide on employment.
Oct 23, 20255 min read


Ivory Innovations 2025 Hack-A-House Winners offer Creative Solutions to Address Housing Affordability Challenges affecting Millions of Americans
Students from Harvard, University of Utah and Willamette University propose solutions to improve lending to first time buyers, increase access to affordable housing and develop cost-reducing construction methods to increase homeownership SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 1, 2025 - Ivory Innovations , both an operating foundation and a nonprofit academic center based at the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, today announced the winners of its 2025 Hack-A-House competit
Sep 30, 20254 min read


Saving Homeownership for Gen Z
The decade-plus undersupply of housing along with COVID-era inflation in housing prices and higher interest rates mean that the same construction methods, materials, and policy and regulatory frameworks that worked for earlier generations will not work for Gen Z. Instead, the majority of Gen Z are likely to struggle to afford rent, let alone reach the American Dream of homeownership, unless we think differently.
Sep 18, 20254 min read


Interacting with students and their passion for housing.
Innovation, Affordability, and the Environment. These are the issues students consistently raise when discussing housing. Now, more than ever, students recognize that they will (if they haven’t already) be directly affected by housing costs and affordability challenges. Fortunately, they are well-positioned to confront this crisis. Students can remain optimistic, explore new solutions, and engage with these challenges without being discouraged by the obstacles to implementing
Sep 11, 20253 min read


Ivory Innovations Invites Innovators across the Country to Showcase Solutions Addressing Housing Affordability through its Annual Ivory Prize
Fieldworks accelerates the adoption of promising housing innovations by integrating them into Ivory Innovations’ own developments, creating real-world applications that demonstrate their value and impact.
Sep 2, 20253 min read


Who Gets to Build? Solutions to Unlock the Construction Workforce
Part 2: Solutions Solving the labor bottleneck in housing will require reimagining how we train, certify, and mobilize the construction workforce. Fortunately, innovative solutions are emerging across the country, from policy reforms to industry-led initiatives, that aim to make it easier to enter the trades without compromising quality or safety. One promising strategy is expanding youth apprenticeship programs. These initiatives blend classroom instruction with paid, on t
Jul 14, 20252 min read


New Ivory Innovations Fieldworks Program Offers Housing Innovators the Opportunity to Implement Solutions in Actual Development Sites
Fieldworks accelerates the adoption of promising housing innovations by integrating them into Ivory Innovations’ own developments, creating real-world applications that demonstrate their value and impact.
Jul 8, 20253 min read


Who Gets to Build? The Growing Debate Over Licensing and Trade Restrictions
As the United States determines how to deal with its housing shortage, conversations about how to increase supply often focus on materials, permitting, and zoning. But a deeper issue lies in who is allowed to do the building in the first place.
Jul 7, 20252 min read


A Summer 2025 Reading List for Housing Innovation Enthusiasts
Looking to understand the housing crisis – and what we can do about it? These books – written by or featuring Ivory Prize finalists or experts – offer fresh insights, bold proposals, and important context to help us imagine and build better housing and better cities.
Jun 23, 20252 min read


New Ivory Innovations Report offers Seven Recommendations for HUD to Boost Housing Affordability in America
Drawing on insights from a wide array of industry leaders—including policymakers, developers, technologists, and nonprofit experts—Ivory Innovations synthesized their input into seven actionable recommendations for HUD. These focus on modernizing outdated housing regulations, expanding financing options, and boosting efficiency across the housing sector.
Jun 18, 20252 min read


How Office Conversions Can Reshape Cities
The Future of Downtowns: Office-to-Residential Conversions A Changing Urban Landscape Downtowns across the country are in flux. Office buildings that once thrived now sit empty or underused, the result of a post-pandemic shift in how and where we work. At the same time, demand for housing, especially in urban centers, has never been higher. One idea is gaining traction as a solution to both challenges: converting underutilized office buildings into housing. The Potential of
Jun 16, 20252 min read


What’s Next for Prefab Housing? The ROAD to Housing Act and the Future of Factory-Built Homes
In a year marked by gridlock and turmoil in Washington, one bill represents a potentially huge step forward for housing innovation. Introduced by Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), the ROAD to Housing Act proposes a deceptively simple reform: eliminating the federal requirement that all HUD Code manufactured homes include a permanent steel chassis.
At first glance, this might seem like a small technical fix. But in practice, it could reshape the landscape for factory-built housing in
May 21, 20253 min read


Why Reinvent When We Can Reinvent What We Have?
The Promise and Challenges of Model Cities Rethinking Urban Design from Scratch Model cities—like Neom , Songdo , or Telosa —promise a fresh start. Built from scratch, they offer the rare opportunity to rethink everything: architecture, mobility, energy systems, and land use. In theory, they’re clean slates for innovation, free from the constraints of outdated infrastructure and bureaucratic inertia. The Reality: Do Model Cities Deliver? But while new cities can be fertile te
May 5, 20252 min read


The Missing Middle of Innovation: Exploring the Case for a DARPA for Housing
The U.S. Housing Crisis and the Innovation Bottleneck Barriers to New Housing Solutions The U.S. housing crisis isn’t just about a lack of supply, it’s about how hard it is to get new ideas off the ground. Whether it’s modular construction, faster permitting, or alternative financing models, promising innovations often get stuck in a frustrating loop: too new to be widely adopted, but too untested to prove their value in the market. That is the innovation bottleneck. The Hou
Apr 9, 20252 min read


Local Innovation vs. Federal Innovation in Housing
Regulations and programs for housing exist at all levels of government in the United States. From local zoning codes, to statewide building codes, to federal funding programs – each level of government has a role to play in our current housing system. As changes sweep the federal government, with likely impacts in how we regulate and finance housing (and which government entities do so), it is worth noting that while such changes may reshape federal institutions, many local
Apr 2, 20252 min read


How Immigration and Tariffs Are Accelerating Construction Innovation
After several years of relative stability following the COVID-induced supply chain headaches of 2020-2021, the construction industry is like
Mar 17, 20252 min read


Why Do We Need Small-Dollar Mortgage Innovations?
As the new Presidential Administration settles into Washington, DC, many are asking: what comes next? A critical topic is examining and improving the landscape of “small-dollar mortgages.”
A recent opinion piece in The New York Times explains that small-dollar mortgages—generally loans under $100,000—make up a significant portion of the housing market but remain underserved by traditional mortgage lenders. In fact, a substantial percentage of homes in certain areas fall with
Feb 21, 20252 min read


Can AI Help You Find and Buy a Home?
The Changing Landscape of Home Buying and Selling The process for buying and selling homes is changing – with the outcome of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) lawsuit in March 2024 and the rise of artificial intelligence, there has been significant startup activity in this space in the last few years. AI-Powered Tools for Housing Affordability and Search Flyhomes built an AI search engine allowing users to search for areas that fit their unique needs, like “is thi
Feb 18, 20252 min read
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