Financing and Scaling Housing Innovation

Beginning in September 2023, Terner Labs partnered with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to create an event series exploring how emerging technological innovations can lead to the creation of sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes.

The four-part series brought together leaders from the public sector, housing experts, researchers, technologists, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and others to discuss the implications of new technologies for housing supply, access, equity, and affordability. The series culminated in a multi-panel event at the Innovative Housing Showcase in Washington, D.C., which brings construction innovations to life on the National Mall. A recording of our panel, “Financing and Scaling Housing Innovation,” is available now. We were honored to be joined by local and state leaders, senior officials from the EPA, DOE, and the White House, Housing Venture Lab alumni, and other housing practitioners and policy leaders.

Panelists focused emergent innovations in offsite construction, reuse, and sustainability, and what’s needed to bring these new approaches to scale. It came as the United States saw a wave of renewed interest in industrialized, modular and other innovative construction methods, and as we launched our Builders Lab program, supporting innovative ventures in these fields.

Speakers included:

• Arpita Bhattacharyya, Senior Advisor and Chief Climate Officer in the Loan Programs Office, U.S. Department of Energy

• Michelle Boyd, Chief Strategy Officer, Terner Labs

• Marquis Cofer, Director of Customer Experience, Module Sean Roberts, CEO, Villa

• Ben White, Builders Lab Director, Terner Labs

• Armelle Coutant, Co-Founder, Kit Switch

• Solomon Greene, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy Development & Research, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development

• Jan Lindenthal-Cox, Chief Investment Officer, Housing Accelerator Fund

• Laurie J. Schoeman, Senior Advisor for Housing and Urban Policy, White House Domestic Policy Council

• Tanaya Srini, Senior Advisor for Innovation in the Office of Policy Development & Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

• Abigail Suarez, Head of Neighborhood Development, JPMC

• David Widawsky, Director of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Office, Environmental Protection Agency

We are grateful to have partnered with HUD over the course of these four events, and we look forward to continuing the conversations we’ve begun over the past year. Terner Labs’ support of this event is made possible by generous support from the JP Morgan Chase Foundation and the Howard and Irene Levine Family Foundation.