Housing Gets Personal as New Ideas Move from Students to Scalable Solutions

Written by:

Rudi Davis

Date:

30 Sep 2025

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The housing affordability crisis is no longer just a distant social issue, it’s becoming deeply personal for many Americans, according to Ian Cahoon, Director of Innovations at Ivory Innovations. This shift is driving new approaches to fostering housing innovation.

The Personal Impact

“People realize their kids are not gonna be able to afford a house,” Cahoon says. “It starts to be, ‘these people over here have this problem’ to now ‘me and my family have this problem.'” This personal connection is creating unprecedented urgency around housing innovation.

Building the Innovation Pipeline

Ivory Innovations has developed a three-stage pathway to transform promising ideas into market solutions. “I almost see Hack-A-House as that early stage of zero idea to kind of have some thought,” Cahoon explains, describing the first step in their innovation pipeline.

From there, successful concepts can advance through the Ivory Prize program, which provides crucial support for emerging solutions. “We have about 500 portfolio organizations right now,” Cahoon notes. The organization offers comprehensive support, from helping companies find key executives to facilitating fundraising rounds.

Implementation and Scale

The final stage, called Fieldworks, focuses on helping proven innovations achieve market scale. “We’re past the pilot, but still trying to really reach scale,” Cahoon says, describing companies ready for this phase. The program provides opportunities to implement innovations in real projects while working directly with the Ivory Innovations team.

Creating Sustainable Change

This structured approach to nurturing innovation is already showing results. Through partnerships with organizations like Call to Action Foundation, successful ideas can be implemented in actual housing projects, creating tangible impact in communities.

The Future of Housing Innovation

As housing challenges become more personal for many Americans, Cahoon sees an opportunity for broader engagement in finding solutions. “We’re here to make it as easy as we can, to help scale and improve on your idea,” he says, emphasizing their commitment to supporting innovators at every stage of development.