Creative Housing Solutions

We need more out-of-the-box thinkers in the housing space.

Tried and true has its appeal. I get it. "We've done it this way and it worked. So let's keep doing it." Honestly, sometimes that's right. "Best practice" and/or "evidence-based" are terms that are thrown out in our schools of practice and many times those 'ways' have earned the label and deserve to be replicated. But sometimes we stifle progress because we lean too heavily to what is familiar and the way we've always done it. Often what worked before isn't really working as well now or the need has grown and we need additional ideas.

CDP is in the space of creative housing solutions. I love new and innovative ideas. I love organizations and programs that are mission-forward in ways that are pioneering and those who dare to try a new approach that might just work. Creative housing involves new ways of developing housing, new ways of offering home ownership, and thinking about developing community in ways that don't neatly fit in the box of white-picket-fence houses, large apartment complexes or swanky lofts downtown.

We need more innovators in the housing development space. We need organizations and social entrepreneurs willing to take risks and try something new. We need funders and community leaders that can envision a housing solution wrapped in a creative idea and want to be a part of it. Everyone lives some place and if we are going to solve our national housing crisis we need innovative ideas and innovative people to move and do. There will always be a need for single family homes and multifamily apartments, but now is the time to bring the creatives to the table and get people housed. Who's in?

-Mindy Muller, CFRE, President/CEO of CDP

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