How can Cincinnati provide more affordable housing? This new lab aims to find out
UC partners with GCF, LISC Greater Cincinnati on Housing Innovation Lab
What if Cincinnati approached housing challenges the way major companies approach innovation?
That's the idea driving a new collaboration between the University of Cincinnati Real Estate Center, Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) and LISC Greater Cincinnati.
Called the Housing Innovation Lab, this new project applies a research and development approach to housing, moving promising ideas from analysis to real-world application.
Gary Painter, professor at UC's Carl H. Lindner College of Business, Board of Executive Advisors in Real Estate (BEARE) chair and academic director of the UC Real Estate Center, is part of the team of industry experts addressing the systemic barriers that make affordable housing in the region so difficult.
“This research-practice partnership provides a model for how the academic community can be a partner in facilitating innovation with a broad set of stakeholders, while developing a dynamic learning system,” said Painter in the press release.
One of the first tests on the lab’s agenda: Modular housing.
As the Cincinnati Enquirer and other media reported, that means the lab will assess whether Cincinnati could support its own regional manufacturing facility for prefabricated homes and parts for local builders through a rigorous study involving industry partnerships.
The study will provide evidence on if this type of production can lower prices and help more families move into homes.
“The goal is not simply to study housing challenges," Painter said. "It’s to generate evidence, test solutions in practice and provide communities with the information they need to make smarter decisions and invest in approaches that have demonstrated results.”
More housing innovation in the news
- Cincinnati Enquirer: Could Cincinnati build homes in a factory? New group seeks answers
- Cincinnati Business Courier: Businesses, nonprofits partner with University of Cincinnati to launch housing lab
- Movers & Makers: Greater Cincinnati groups launch Housing Innovation Lab
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