Hacking housing: group looks for Okanagan housing solutions
A brain-storming event next month will try to find new ways to address what is one of the highest priority issues in the Okanagan.
Accelerate Okanagan will host Hacking Housing on June 23, a single-day event where community members are invited to team up to explore business ideas that could make housing more affordable across the Okanagan.
The event will be held in person at the Kelowna Innovation Centre.
“Local communities are experiencing a rapid increase in housing challenges, including supply and demand, rising costs, new housing starts, community planning and more. The impacts of these challenges are far-reaching and affect not only current Okanagan residents but future residents and the sustainability of living in the Okanagan,” said Sara Scott, brand and communications manager for Accelerate Okanagan.
The not-for-profit organization said solving the complex challenges will require individuals from different backgrounds to come together in unique ways.
“Hackathons are a great opportunity to collaborate and build new connections in the community. Whether you are working in the housing industry, a current resident of the Okanagan, or you’re new to the area and want to expand your network, this is an excellent opportunity to plug in,” said Alex Goodhew, community manager at Accelerate Okanagan. “The teamwork I see at these events is really inspiring and I’m excited to see what ideas the participants come up with.”
Facilitated by Rocky Ozaki and his team from the NoW of Work, participants will learn about adopting an innovative mindset and be introduced to Design Thinking — an empathy-driven process that can be used to bring ideas to life in a matter of hours. During this time, the participating hackers will be placed into teams to ideate solutions and turn their ideas into a sustainable business model.
Once the day of hacking is complete, the teams will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and an audience of community members at a public event held at the new Metro Community Centre. The event is open to anyone interested in developing an innovative mindset and building creative solutions.
“You don’t need to be a coder or work in IT to participate in a hackathon,” said Scott. “In fact, the most successful concepts are generated when teams have a diverse set of skills, perspectives and backgrounds. If you’re passionate about exploring solutions to this challenge, Accelerate Okanagan invites you to get involved.”
Want to learn more about the event? Visit Accelerate Okanagan’s blog.