CREtech and Second Century Ventures Partner To Raise Awareness Of Technology’s Role In Solving The U.S. Affordable Housing Crisis
CREtech, the largest international community of professionals devoted to technological innovation in the real estate sector, has announced a partnership with Second Century Ventures, one of the most respected and active PropTech investors in the industry, to raise awareness of technology’s role in solving the affordable housing crisis plaguing much of the world today. The newly launched CREtech Affordable Housing initiative aims to be a comprehensive resource for professionals to discover startups, venture investors, thought-leaders and real estate companies leading the way in affordable housing tech investment.
The lack of affordable housing is one of the U.S.’ s most pressing social economic crises. According to Habitat For Humanity, the coronavirus pandemic has accentuated housing affordability issues, especially for low-income households. In 2019, 37.1 million households were “housing cost burdened,” spending 30% or more of their income on housing. This represented 30.2% of all households nationwide. One in 7 households — 17.6 million in total — were “severely cost burdened,” spending half or more of their income on housing.
Renters were significantly more cost burdened than homeowners, with 46% of renters cost burdened compared to 21% of homeowners. Also, 24% of renters and 9% of homeowners were severely cost burdened. In total, though, homeowners made up 40% of all households with severe housing cost burdens, given the larger number of homeowners in the overall population.
The CREtech Affordable Housing technology initiative seeks to galvanize the real estate and tech sectors to align in order to inspire and develop the innovative technology solutions that will most effectively solve the housing affordability crisis. Some of the technology solutions that are already having an impact in this crisis are focused on creating construction techniques, 3-D printed homes, the digitalization of applications and financing solutions, and land development tech, among others.
“It is an honor to launch this important initiative in partnership with the team at CREtech. We share a passion and a commitment to making housing affordable and accessible to everyone and believe technology will play a vital role not only in alleviating the current crisis, but in building sustainable communities for generations to come,” commented Tyler Thompson, Managing Partner, Second Century Ventures. “Working hand in hand with industry innovators, owners, operators, developers, investors, and the field of academia reinforces our collective ability to support new ideas that will transform the real estate ecosystem.”
CREtech Affordable Housing’s leadership team consists of leaders from Second Century Investors and CREtech’s Consulting team. The Leadership team includes Tyler Thompson, Managing Partner, Second Century Ventures, Ashley Stinton, Head of Marketing, Second Century Ventures, Michael Beckerman, CEO, CREtech and CREtech Climate, Yan Khamish, Advisor, CREtech and Thatcher Milholland, Advisor, CREtech.
“Thanks to our partners at Second Century Ventures, CREtech is now able to devote the resources necessary to tackle the affordable housing crisis by building a community of professionals dedicated to investing and adopting technology solutions,” stated Michael Beckerman, CEO, CREtech. “The real estate industry has an enormous opportunity to be the catalyst for solving the affordable housing crises. It is our collective view at CREtech and Second Century Ventures that when the worlds of real estate, venture capital and technology all come together, the Built World is capable of extraordinary innovation for the greater good,” Beckerman concluded.
The CREtech Affordable Housing initiative comes on the heels of CREtech’s successful launch of their CREtech Climate initiative aimed at galvanizing the real estate industry to invest in decarbonization strategies.
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About CREtech
CREtech is Reimagining Real Estate. We are the largest international community of professionals devoted to technological innovation in the real estate sector. Our mission is to help the industry embrace, adopt, and future proof its businesses. Our streaming, live/virtual events, and consulting platform inspires the next generation of ideas, processes, and people to champion the world’s largest asset class. Learn More: CREtech.com
About Second Century Ventures
Second Century Ventures (SCV), the strategic investment arm of the National Association of REALTORS®, is the most active global real estate technology fund. SCV helps scale its portfolio companies across the world’s largest industries including real estate, financial services, banking, home services, and insurance. Second Century Ventures also operates the award-winning REACH technology growth program. Learn More: scv.vc