One of the goals of the Terner Housing Lab has always been to showcase the amazing companies that we work with in order to inspire people across the country and spur collaboration. In the past three years, we’ve made a lot of videos and done a lot of virtual events towards this goal. But it was this year, in the wake of a global pandemic that has disproportionately hurt lower income and Black renters, that we were able to highlight the innovative  housing work being done by our six cohort companies in-person, at a time when that work has become more relevant than ever. 

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Watch the 2023 Housing Supply Innovation Symposium (see full event agenda below)

More than 1,000 people joined our 2023 Housing Supply Innovation Symposium virtually and in-person. Co-hosted by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and the National League of Cities, together we were able to bring in a broad audience of people invested in finding new housing solutions for social good from across the country and internationally.

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The three panels represented three core values that Terner sees as essential to the future of housing: equity, access, and sustainability. In addition to each Terner cohort company sharing their wisdom from championing these values in the current housing market, the panels featured  government and private sector experts to contextualize the work and offer their own perspective on housing solutions.

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Our application for the next cohort of housing entrepreneurs will open at the end of February. If you know a nonprofit or for-profit company that is also working for fairer, more affordable, or more sustainable housing please encourage them to apply. More information on our selection criteria and process is available on our website. If you want to be notified as soon as our application opens, let us know.

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Symposium Agenda

Introductions (00:16:25)

Equitably increasing the housing supply: Innovative models centering racial justice and community empowerment (00:20:45)

• Joshua Morrison, Frolic Communities, Seattle: Scalable financial structure to develop 6-10 unit infill projects with co-op ownership for low-wealth buyers and community investors
• Nikishka Iyengar, The GUILD, Atlanta: Community Investment structure to create community-controlled permanently affordable rental housing (Atlanta)
• Imani Yasin, Parity, Baltimore: Redevelopment of dilapidated row houses for communities of Black homeowners to reinvigorate divested neighborhoods
• Chris Herbert, Managing Director, JCHS (Moderator)

Emerging models for inclusivity: Increasing access to mixed-income, subsidized, and disability-forward housing (01:23:35)

• Micaela Connery, The Kelsey, San Francisco: Guidelines and development model for disability-forward housing (San Francisco)
• Christine Wendell, Pronto, New York City: Reducing barriers to finding and securing affordable housing via reforming the intake and compliance process
• Lionel Lynch, Director of Community Development Banking Capital Solutions,  JP Morgan Chase (Moderator)

The future of houses: New approaches for reducing the cost and increasing the sustainability of construction (02:25:30)

• Brian Gaudio, Module, Pittsburgh: Net Zero industrialized construction for townhomes and small multifamily, centering workforce development and smaller cities.
• Tyler Pullen, PhD researcher, Terner Center for Housing Innovation
• Theodore Toon, Senior Advisor, Multifamily Housing, HUD
• Reed Jordan, Housing Affordability Grant Program Manager, Wells Fargo (Moderator)

Closing debrief (03:30:35)

• Ben Metcalf, Managing Director, Terner Center
• Solomon Greene, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, HUD
• Sarah Brundage, Senior Advisor for Housing Supply and Infrastructure, Office of the Secretary, HUD

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