Ivory Innovations Announces Opening of Nominations for the 2025 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability
Ivory Innovations, a nonprofit dedicated to catalyzing innovation in housing affordability, has announced the opening of nominations for its seventh annual Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability. The prize was created to address the housing crisis by elevating ambitious solutions that are also feasible and scalable. The goal: to foster greater housing affordability and accessibility nationwide.
Any organization actively engaged in the pursuit of housing attainability—including entrepreneurs, startups, public entities, and nonprofits—is encouraged to submit a nomination at ivoryprize.org, and third-party nominations are welcome.
Nominations will close on Dec. 6, 2024.
Each year, the Ivory Prize awards $300,000 in prize money to winners in three focus areas:
- Construction & Design
- Policy & Regulatory Reform
- Finance
Since its inception, the Ivory Prize has delivered $1.8 million dollars in funding to companies, organizations, and programs making a difference in housing. In addition to a monetary award, Ivory Prize winners also benefit from significant recognition, publicity, and operational support from the Ivory Innovations team. Each year, twenty-five Ivory Prize finalists also gain access to the Ivory Innovations network along with an array of support, including a robust network of housing experts and sponsored summer interns from Ivory’s student associate cohort at the University of Utah.
Ivory Prize winners are selected via a three-phase judging process spanning from January to May. Final selections are made by the Ivory Innovations advisory board, which is comprised of housing experts from academia, government, and the private sector. Recent additions to the advisory board include Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Jenny Schuetz, who joined in 2023, and Berkeley Professional Faculty member Molly Turner, who joined in 2024. The advisory board is chaired by Kent Colton, who formerly served as CEO of the National Association of Homebuilders.
“Housing in the US is plagued with barriers and challenges that impact stakeholders at all levels, from supply chain-impacted homebuilders to potential first-time home buyers struggling to achieve savings for a down payment. The beauty of the Ivory Prize is that it aims to find creative solutions for housing challenges at all levels, and highlights a diverse variety of solution makers.” said Kent Colton.