Overview

The Affordable Housing Initiative is a design-research collaboration in affordable housing that brings together the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, the Greater Frogtown Community Development Corporation (GFCDC), a team from the University of Minnesota, and the building industry. The team's mission is to aggressively address the housing crisis by providing affordable housing that will ensure stability and improve the quality of life in low-income communities. This project targets a critical gap in affordable housing for those between the 40-60% median income level, which fall between the housing programs by Habitat for Humanity and the Community Development Corporations.

The goal of the project is to develop ten prototype houses that integrate affordability with sustainable design, healthy construction, social and cultural responsiveness, and design excellence. Phase One of the project, which will be completed in summer 2003, involved the design, construction, and evaluation of Case Study House One in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota. House One uses a new studless oriented strand board Structural Engineered Panel (SEP) building system combined with the PERSIST (Pressure Equalized Rain Screen Insulated Structure Technique) weatherization technology developed in Canada.