Problem

Gentrification is common in BIPOC neighborhoods, where rising taxes and the shortage of affordable housing in cities have contributed to the surge in homeless populations. Black Americans make up more than [40% of the homeless population](https://endhomelessness.org/resource/racial-disparities-homelessness-united-states/#:~:text=Most minority groups in the,percent of the general population.), despite only representing 13% of the general population. Increasing urbanization will push BIPOC individuals deep into the housing crisis as 68% of the world’s population is projected to live in cities by 2050. Innovation will be needed to navigate the increased population concentration while cultivating sustainable and equitable urban centers.

Key Terms

**Gentrification:** Gentrification is a process of change currently underway in many American cities. Gentrification brings conflict between longtime residents of old neighborhoods and new arrivals.
**Housing crisis:** Also housing bubble, is a run-up in housing prices fueled by demand, speculation, and exuberant spending to the point of collapse. Housing bubbles usually start with an increase in demand, in the face of limited supply, which takes a relatively extended period to replenish and increase.
[**Space-as-a-service:](https://www.workdesign.com/2019/04/space-as-a-service-its-time-to-break-the-norm/#:~:text=The common definition of space,services that include physical space.&text=In fact%2C space as a,disruptions to an existing market.)** Change in the real estate model from asset ownership to monetization of access and services that include physical space.
**Nuclear family:** Nuclear family, also called elementary family, in sociology and anthropology, a group of people who are united by ties of partnership and parenthood and consisting of a pair of adults and socially recognized children.

Solutions

1. Cheaper Methods to Build Houses

Building homes in cities is a complex, lengthy, and expensive process filled with regulatory hurdles. The estimated cost to build a typical 100-unit affordable project in San Francisco has doubled from $265,000 in 2000 to $425,000 in 2017.

Existing Solutions

Quick-construction, modular building methods include the HexHouse and Plant PreFab.
Cover is also a prefab housing solution that simplifies the complicated nexus between design, supply chain, labor coordination, and permitting. They create design tools that dramatically lower costs and employ scaled manufacturing and off-site assembly.

What needs to be done?

<aside> 🏗️ Standardized construction: Construction solutions that reduce the cost of modular housing or even the jobsite risk of construction, such as Smartvid.io.

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2. Sustainable, Smart Housing

Housing structures need to be safe, affordable, and sustainable to help mitigate the disproportionate effects of climate change and homelessness that BIPOC communities experience.

Existing Solutions

Google X’s Dandelion Project is a home geothermal system that uses ground loop geothermal to harness energy from the earth's soil -- it absorbs heat to warm and redistributes it in piping to cool, all at a low-cost.