Affordable Housing
Proptech Americas, its Executive Director, and its Executive Committee regard today’s affordable housing crisis as one of the most critical problems to be solved. We are committed to addressing this domestic housing crisis and identifying the most effective contech and proptech solutions to resolve it. – John Gallo, Executive Director
THE PROBLEM
As many other industries have embraced technology, real estate and construction have been late adopters of the advancements brought about by innovations over the past few decades. These industries have historically been conservative and opaque, as many incumbents have operated under the belief that controlling data and information is a necessary competitive advantage. The stagnant nature of technological innovation in real estate and construction has contributed to an industry environment of poor productivity and frequent overruns in cost and time – leading to a shortage of readily available new housing. In fact, a recent report by the National Association of Realtors shows the construction of new housing in the past 20 years fell 5.5 million units short of long-term historical levels. This has put a tremendous strain on the affordable housing market, as home prices have jumped more than 47% in the past six years, while wages have increased only 16%.
While high-end home and apartment construction rebounded quickly from the housing collapse of more than a decade ago, the development of affordable housing (homes that are fairly priced for lower-income people to rent or buy) has only just begun to pick up, and demand continues to drastically outpace supply.
This is a problem that impacts every state and every community. Simply put, there is not enough housing in communities across the country. The result is more expensive housing, driving homeownership out of reach for many families and leaving less money to pay for life-essential items like groceries and doctor’s visits. In order to provide a solution. As the affordable housing shortage worsens each year, families are left with fewer options.
Solving today’s affordable housing crisis requires a new, revolutionary way of building and managing real estate – one that reimagines the industry and leverages the efficiencies of technological innovation to drastically reduce the cost and time burden of homebuilding.
THE SOLUTION
Construction technology (“contech”) property technology (“proptech”) companies are developing innovative solutions with proven applications to help solve the affordable housing crisis by revitalizing stagnant productivity and radically reduce housing costs to bring high-quality affordable housing to communities that need it most.
By combining agile state-of-the-art technology with highly skilled production processes, contech and proptech companies are leveraging the power of technological innovation advances to significantly reduce the cost, complexity, and time required to build new homes.
The COVID pandemic drove the construction and property sectors toward radical change, compressing three years of contech and proptech innovation and acceptance into nine months. Contech and proptech have been instrumental in keeping job sites operational and enabling individuals and businesses alike to continue operating at the property level. Although contech and proptech played an emergency role through these tumultuous times, the tech innovation and adoption brought on by the pandemic are here to stay, and will propel the industry forward in the coming years.
Contech and proptech solutions offer equitable access to affordable and available housing. Supply is critical in the current environment as urban populations continue to grow and the existing housing stock ages. Contech and proptech have proven to rise to the challenge during the pandemic and will continue their resilient nature of innovation, adoption, connectivity, and collaboration to bring more affordable housing to everyone, everywhere.