Stressing about the Okanagan’s hot housing market? Looking to find a solution?
This event is for you.
On June 23rd, Accelerate Okanagan is hosting Hacking Housing—an event where community members are invited to explore and build innovative solutions and business models that can reduce or address the stressors found in the Okanagan’s housing market.
In recent years, our community has seen an increase in housing challenges, ranging from; rising costs, supply and demand, community planning, new housing starts, and more. The impacts of these challenges are far-reaching and affect not only current Okanagan residents but the future of our community’s economic prosperity and sustainability of the Okanagan Valley.
It’s Time to Get Involved
Hacking Housing is a full-day event that will have you working closely with teammates and mentors. At the end of the event, you will pitch your business concept to a panel of judges.
SIGN ME UPAt previous hackathons, we’ve rallied around big challenges like cancer care and eliminating waste, and we’re eager to see what ideas and connections will come from Hacking Housing. These hackathon events give the community a chance to participate in something truly unique: coming together to solve a systemic problem through a single-day event.
Working with the support of the Urban Systems, we’ve developed our theme and challenge statement around stressors that impact affordable housing in the Okanagan. Together, alongside our sponsoring partners, we want to find practical and innovative solutions to this critical challenge.
How might we mitigate the stressors surrounding affordable housing in the Okanagan Valley?
We used the term “stressors” because it can refer to different components of the housing market depending on the individual. Whether it makes you think of something specific like the availability of housing or something general like frustration with the state of the Okanagan’s housing market, we want hackers to pursue concepts that resonate with them and help the community. By developing solutions that reduce stressors surrounding affordable housing, participants can approach this problem from a multitude of perspectives.
Our hackathons are all about collaboration, ideation, and creating new connections in the community. Teams will be formed, introduced to the challenge, and pitch their ideas all in one day. Solutions and prototypes can come alive in a matter of hours using a process called Design Thinking. We have seen the most success at hackathons when the makeup of the teams is diverse in skill sets and backgrounds. Having multiple perspectives to consider is key when using Design Thinking.
SEE WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CLIMATE HACKATHON
At the end of Hacking Housing, teams will be presenting their innovative solutions and business ideas that they developed throughout the day. They will be pitching their ideas to a panel of judges who are experts in their field. Those judges will then have the difficult task of reviewing the ideas and deciding on the winning team. Community members are invited to attend and hear the pitches and keynote speaker, Paula Quinn of KF Aerospace.
Join for Team Pitches
Join us on June 23rd for a pitch event where we will hear solutions and business ideas from the Hacking Housing teams as well as a keynote address from KF Aerospace’s Paula Quinn.
Save your seat
