These are the organizations that are inspiring us to forge ahead into a future where healthy housing for low-income populations is normal, affordable and accessible. Please visit their websites, learn about their projects and support us in uplifting this ecosystem of visionary community developers.
Education
Community Rebuilds— Our biggest role-model, Community Rebuilds creates education opportunities for homeowners, volunteers and interns to learn natural building, thereby maximizing volunteer-hours spent to make the homes they build more affordable for working people. They complete 16 homes a year on a CLT with 30,000 volunteer labor hours each year.
Yestermorrow— Located in Vermont, Yestermorrow offers over 100 courses, taught by top architects, builders, craftspeople, and permaculture practitioners from around the country. They are teaming up with Community Rebuilds (above) to offer a natural building certificate at their Utah campus in Bluff, UT.
Sante Fe Community College— A training program for Adobe Construction offering a one-year Building Construction and Science Technologies Adobe Certificate or a two-year Associate of Applied Science Degree in Building Construction and Science Technologies.
Adobe in Action— They offer an 8-class online Certificate in Adobe Construction, a biennial Earth USA conference and they support owner-builders from design to plastering and connect students with projects for their practicum.
Constructive Arts— We applaud their academic and engineering rigor in educating about a wide variety of earthen building techniques, including vernacular architecture, like arches, domes and windcatchers. Old school sustainability. Very cool founders. Check out our podcast interview with visionary founder, Bob Estrin.
Berea College— In Kentucky, Berea College was founded in 1855 by Quakers “as a school dedicated to the equal education of blacks, whites, men and women.” It hasn’t charged tuition since 1892. It is a beacon of equality in education that understands that a safe space allows a mind to open.
Building
Brick by Brick— Brick by Brick is a Social Enterprise model, which just means creating businesses designed to help people. These guys partnered with the Phoenix Rescue Mission to create Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBs) as part of a program to stop the recurring cycle of homelessness. They are focusing on 200 sq ft tiny adobe designs.
Community Rebuilds— Yes their education model (above) is a win-win, but look at the homes they build! Natural building, passive solar, PV systems, water-cachement, earthen floors, non-toxic finishes and super-happy homeowners!! Yes, yes, yes.
SquareOne Villages— Innovators who are leading the way, SquareOne started with unconventional financing until they could prove their model. They have. They have succeeded in establishing 6 villages, some for transitional housing and some for permanently affordable housing, and are now teaching others how to do it.
Colorado Earth— From brick-making to final build, this company sets the standard for how to build right. Founded by architectural engineer, Lisa Morey, every detail of their execution is thoughtfully planned. Check out their Resources page for a master class on why building with Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBs) is the smartest choice.
NewTown CDC/CLT— We love this agency because they paired a Community Development Corporation (CDC) with the oldest Community Land Trust (CLT) in Arizona. They build or renovate houses, then sell them at below-market rates to qualified buyers. They offer financial education, down payment assistance AND the houses to buy in a CLT neighborhood –or– a tiny house village.
Healthy Housing Community Development
NeighborWorks— Their mission is to create opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives and strengthen their communities, and they do this with a rigorous focus on organizational development of each of the 250 organizations in their network. Also: they focus on collecting hard data on housing as a factor in health. We love.
Rural LISC— LISC is one of the largest Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in the US, they also recognize that “housing is a social determinant of health,” and they fund community development projects accordingly.
Enterprise Community— They are the sixth largest non-profit housing provider in the US, focusing on building more housing units, advancing racial equity, and prioritizing resilence and sustainability. They have launched a Health Action Plan Framework to offer the expertise of public health professionals to affordable housing developers.
Climate-Resilient and Inclusionary Housing
The Schumacher Center— Founded in 1980, the Schumacher Center for a New Economics recognizes that the environmental and equity crises we now face have their roots in the current economic system. Their work focuses on the elements of a just and regenerative global economy and broadcasting solutions widely.
Lincoln Center for Land Policy— They focus on climate-resilient community development, poverty, fiscal health, resource management and equitable taxation. Take a look at their partners and initiatives here. Our Executive Director was recently selected for Lincoln’s Vibrant Communities Fellowship.
Center for CLT Innovation Their intention is to play six interrelated strategic roles in furthering the global movement of community-led development on community-owned land: connection; cultivation; education; inclusion; preservation; and innovation.
Grounded Solutions— They promote housing solutions that will stay affordable for generations to combat systemic inequity. Hear from some of the 250,000 Americans who became homeowners in a shared-equity affordable housing scenario.
Crooked Forest Institute 