Named as a Top 10 Finalist for the Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability
CONCORD, N.H. — ROC USA was recently named as a Top 10 finalist for the Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability. The Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability, sponsored by Ivory Innovations, began in 2019 as a way to recognize businesses, foundations, non-profits, community leaders, and others that are working to lower the cost of housing. The Ivory Prize recognizes awardees in three categories: construction and design, finance, and public policy and regulatory reform. The Ivory Prize awards a total of $200,000 to winners that have developed ambitious, feasible, and scalable solutions to housing affordability. Winners will be announced in April.
“The Ivory Prize Advisory Board was very impressed with ROC USA’s work to make housing more affordable,” said Kent Colton, Chair of the Ivory Prize Advisory Board. “It’s innovative approaches like ROC USA’s that will make housing more affordable, available, and accessible across America. We look forward to sharing and elevating ROC USA’s impressive work during the 2020 competition.” 
In the inaugural year of the Ivory Prize, four winners were recognized: Landed Homes (co-winner in Finance) is helping educators buy homes in high-cost areas; Home Partners of America (co-winner in Finance) has developed a lend-lease model to boost home ownership; Factory OS (Construction and Design) is building lower-cost modular multi-family housing; and Community Powered Workshop (Public Policy and Regulatory Reform) helped pave the way for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in Austin, Texas through its Alley Flat Initiative. These winners and Top 10 finalists shared their work at Housing + Innovation: Lessons from the Ivory Prize” that took place at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
ROC USA President Paul Bradley said he’s thrilled that the nonprofit social venture he launched in 2008 is being considered, calling it a testament to the teamwork and dedication of ROC USA’s staff the staffs at all 10 affiliates in ROC USA® Network.
“It’s innovative approaches like ROC USA’s that will make housing more affordable, available, and accessible across America.”
-Kent Colton, Ivory Prize Advisory Board Chair
“I think this opportunity reinforces that fact that our integrated financing and technical assistance model is a proven winner for owners of manufactured home communities looking to sell and the homeowners who live in those neighborhoods,” Bradley said. “As an exit strategy, there’s no better way for owners to realize a fair market price on their investment while simultaneously helping their customers better secure their own financial futures.”
ROC USA (rocusa.org) and its affiliates work with more than 250 resident-owned manufactured home communities in 17 states that are made up of more than 17,000 homes. Network affiliates work with resident groups through the purchase process and for at least a decade after, providing organization coaching, leadership development, project management expertise and more.
The finalists and winners for the Ivory Prize are determined by Ivory Innovations’ Advisory Board, which include some of the top minds in housing from across the country. These include Clark Ivory, CEO of the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation and Ivory Homes; Kent Colton, Colton Housing Group; Carol Galante of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California at Berkeley; Chris Herbert at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies; the Urban Institute’s Laurie Goodman; Natalie Gochnour from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute; John McManus, VP-Editorial Director for Residential at Hanley Wood; and Ryan Smith, Director and Professor of the Washington State University School of Design and Construction.
For more information about the Ivory Prize and Ivory Innovations, check out this video or visit www.ivory-innovations.org.
Ivory Innovations is an applied academic institution at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business dedicated to catalyzing high impact innovations in housing affordability. Ivory Innovations seeks to promote the most compelling ideas in housing affordability by working across sectors, providing monetary awards for groundbreaking innovations and leveraging its network and resources.