This non-profit startup is building 3-D printed homes in poor communities; already built 2,200 homes in 4 countries

As of 2021, there are over half a million homeless people in the United States. The situation is even worse outside the United States.  It is estimated that 150 million people are homeless worldwide. The latest 2015 data from Habitat for Humanity estimated that 1.6 billion people around the world live in “inadequate shelter.”

Another report from the World Resource Institute’s Ross Center for Sustainable Cities also found that 1.2 billion people living in cities lack access to affordable and secure housing. The global affordable housing gap is currently estimated at 330 million urban households and is forecast to grow by more than 30 percent to 440 million households, or 1.6 billion people, by 2025. Linear improvements will never reach this market. We need a quantum leap in affordability, speed, and quality to reach families exponentially faster.

To narrow the gap and reverse the trend, one non-profit charity startup is creating a world without homelessness by building affordable 3D printed homes for people living with inadequate shelter. The startup is called New Story Charity.

Since its inception eight years ago, New Story has helped fund community projects in four countries, building over 2,200+ homes in countries like Bolivia, Mexico, Haiti, and El Salvador. New Story has also changed the lives of over 11,000 people.

Founded in 2014 by Alexandria Lafci, Brett Hagler, Matthew Marshall, and Michael Arrieta, New Story Charity crowdfunds houses for homeless families living in danger around the world. 100% of all donations go directly to building homes and every donor receives a video of the exact family moving into their new home for full accountability. Now, thanks to a new 3-D printer, they plan to be able to build a lot more houses for a lot cheaper price.

New Story Team

The first permitted, 3D-printed home created specifically for the developing world was unveiled today in Austin, Texas by New Story, the non-profit working to create a world where no human being lives in survival mode, and ICON, the newly launched construction technologies company leading the way into the future of homebuilding by using 3D printing to make major advancements in affordability, building performance, sustainability and customizability.

New Story revealed a 600-square-foot proof of concept of what its 3-D printed homes will look like. The house was printed in less than 24 hours using a Vulcan printer made by the construction company. This particular prototype cost about $10,000 to develop. The plan is to bring down the price to $4,000.

Source: New Story Charity

New Story Charity also partnered with ICON to build a 3D printer specifically for the developing world and have successfully printed the first home. The home was built for just $4,000 in El Salvador for the first community.  It took just 24 hours to print the home. This innovation means better quality of life for families not just in El Salvador, but in the developing world.

As of December 2018, the startup had raised over $27 million in funding. In the first six months, New Story funded 16 homes with the help of donations. The startup later applied to the world’s top startup accelerator Y Combinator and became one of the first charities accepted into the program. The startup was challenged to build 100 homes in 100 days. The small team and donor base accomplished the goal, plus 13 more.

New Story’s goal is to print homes in  Bolivia, Mexico, Haiti, and El Salvador and then democratize the technology to other non-profits and governments to scale around the world. “A traditional style New Story community of about 100 homes will take close to a year to complete. With the 3-D home printer, if we just had one, it would take about three months to complete the community,” said New Story CEO Brett Hagler.