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Startups Develop Solutions For Affordable Housing, Veev Tops the List

As affordable housing continues to be a problem for many, startups are developing innovative approaches to create scalable solutions to fix the problem. One startup is at the top of the list — SFIA member Veev.

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Photos courtesy of Veev.

Access to an affordable home – defined by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) as housing on which the occupant is paying no more than 30 percent of his gross income for housing costs, including utilities – is a problem permeating throughout the United States. In both rural and urban areas, many people pay more than they should for adequate  housing. 

Fortunately, housing affordability has not been lost on some startup founders, many of whom cluster in metros that feature high rents and home prices, says crunchbase. 

Crunchbase put together a list of the top 24 U.S. startups with ties to affordable housing that have collectively raised more than $1 billion the past year. SFIA member Veev, a building technology company, is at the top of the list with over $585 million raised in total equity funding. Veev is working to solve the housing crisis using an innovative approach to manufacturing homes faster with steel framing. 

Labor Shortages Impact Affordable Housing

Veev Manufacturing Plant

Veev made a decision to eliminate lumber from the homes it built, replacing wood with steel framing to build homes faster and at a lower cost.

Amit Haller, chief executive officer of Veev, says the current housing affordability crisis stems from a bigger problem: Homes are built essentially the same today as 20 years ago. 

Haller considers labor shortages the biggest factor holding back affordable home construction. Startups, he believes, can play a role by developing ways to construct homes that require less on-site labor.

According to USA TODAY, Veev designs, manufactures and assembles every component of its homes. It manufactures walls with mechanical, electrical and plumbing hook-ups already in place that can be transported and assembled onsite faster than traditional residential construction. The company hopes to reduce the stages of construction and the number of parties involved in production and installation.

”We need to think about mass-production of homes,” Haller said. “Once we have mass-production, affordability is simpler.”

Switch to Steel Framing Speeds Home Construction

Veev Steel framing Modular Wall

Veev used a uniquely integrated approach that pulls design, material supply chain, manufacturing, and construction in-house.

In 2019, Veev made a decision to eliminate lumber from the homes it built, replacing wood with steel [framing] and slabs made of a mix of acrylic and minerals that bind together, says USA TODAY. By using this process, Veev can build homes faster and at lower cost.

In addition, building with steel results in near-zero waste framing and a low carbon footprint, says Veev.com.

“Veev is not the only company using a factory to make buildings, but with a uniquely integrated approach that pulls design, material supply chain, manufacturing, and construction in-house, it’s carving a niche of pure efficiency,” says Fast Company.

Since 2019, Veev has completed 138 residential units. The company is currently developing 231 residential units of which 86 are single-family homes.

 

Innovations Using Steel Framing

Cold-formed steel (CFS) framing enables building professionals to complete projects more efficiently, in less time and with lower costs. For example:

  • The use of portable steel roll-forming machines to fabricate mobile structures is an emerging technology gaining traction within the U.S. Navy
  • Using CFS framing components and an automated fabrication system, Straight Cold Rollin in Wyoming used four untrained laborers to build a 60-by-140-ft. pole barn in two months
  • A white paper from FrameMax lists five steps to investing in CFS roll-forming equipment and saving money in the process

 

Leveraging Innovations to Meet Housing Demands

Housing affordability is the kind of big problem startups like to tackle, says cruchbase. 

Shkelqim Kelmendi, executive director of Housing Connector, a nonprofit that provides housing assistance to the homeless, sees startups as a positive to affordable housing. 

“Innovation is not bad,” said Kelmendi, who recently partnered with Zillow to help private property owners and landlords rent to those experiencing houselessness.

As real estate investing startups scale and have more bandwidth to commit to social impact causes, Kelmendi says his company would be interested in exploring opportunities to work with them to tackle the vast housing issues in our country.

“Are there ways that we can leverage or collaborate with some of these new companies and this new innovation to still meet the demand that we have on the streets?” he asks.

Veev is answering the call. One of its projects is 102-house community being built in Northern California, which features Veev’s vertically integrated end-to-end panelized building technology. The residential community, comprising houses created entirely with Veev’s patented and productized approach to design and construction, will be the biggest to date, according to Construction Review Online.

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