Could Charlotte use 3D printing to create affordable housing?

Next up in 5

Example video title will go here for this video

CHARLOTTE, N.C. —

In Charlotte, rising housing costs have some families choosing between paying for housing or for food.

In North Carolina, one in eight households spends more than half of their income on housing, according to Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region.

Across Charlotte, there are affordable housing projects in the works, like the Meadows at Plato Price development.

Once the homes are finished, 39 low-to-moderate-income families will have the chance to become homeowners.

For the latest breaking news, weather and traffic alerts, download the WCNC Charlotte mobile app.

"They can sell it when they choose to, they can pass it on to an air, but most importantly they’re building generational wealth," Bob Glusenkamp, senior VP of construction operations for Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region, said.

But Glusenkamp said the industry is facing challenges, and easing the affordable housing crisis is no easy task.

"We need everybody," Glusenkamp said.

The demand for housing significantly outweighs the supply. The City of Charlotte estimates a need for about 30,000 affordable units.

The Meadows at Plato Price can only solve so much.

"It is a drop in the bucket," Glusenkamp said.

But challenges don't just lie in the lack of affordable housing.

You can stream WCNC Charlotte on Roku and Amazon Fire TV, just download the free app.

"At the same time building costs are going up, we’ve seen tremendous increases through the last two years, from COVID and beyond," Glusenkamp said.

The high cost of materials and construction, both play a part in the lack of supply of affordable housing.

During the 2023 Local News Impact Summit, presented by the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative, housing advocates, community leaders, nonprofit organizations and local journalists focused on current trends in affordable housing and the potential solutions that exist.

During the summit, Charlotte's affordable housing leaders posed the question, can Charlotte use 3D printing?

These days, the technology behind 3D printing is being tapped to create more affordable housing.

In 2021, a Virginia family got the keys to Habitat for Humanity's first 3D-printed home in the nation, and now they're building two more.

Their goal is to use the technology to make building quicker and cheaper.

"If we can build faster, we can create more affordable housing for these families with low to moderate income," Janet V. Green, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg in Virginia, said.

The 3D printer looks like a giant robot. It builds the wall system of a home with a concrete mixture. Traditional construction is used for other things like the roof, wiring, and plumbing.

Click here to sign up for the daily Wake Up Charlotte newsletter

Green said printing the walls is faster than wood framing.

"We think this reduced our standard construction schedule by at least four weeks using this innovative technology," Green said.

WCNC Charlotte's Lexi Wilson went to Glusenkamp to see if this could be a solution to adding more affordable housing in Charlotte.

"One of the big challenges is that not all of the code officials have been exposed to it yet, so it's not really in our North Carolina building code," Glusenkamp said.

He said like any new building material or building technology, people in the industry have to get used to it and right now, it's still new -- and printers of this size are few and far between. But there's hope one day, 3D printing will become mainstream in Charlotte.

"I think it will be part of the future of all Habitat affiliates in the U.S., it just needs to get more affordable and produce at a large enough scale that we can all use it," Glusenkamp said.

Right now, there is also a labor shortage of construction workers. Green said adding 3D printing as another tool for creating housing opens the door for the next generation to get involved in construction.

"I like to say my grandson has no desire to work in the construction industry but he's good with technology, so he was very interested in this," Green said. "So we are hoping this gets people more involved in the labor force of how to build homes differently."

This story is part of ‘I Can't Afford to Live Here,’ a collaborative reporting project focused on solutions to the affordable housing crisis in Charlotte.

WCNC Charlotte is part of the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative (CJC), launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with funding from the Knight Foundation. The CJC strengthens the local news ecosystem and increases opportunities for engagement. It is supported by a combination of local and national grants and sponsorships. For more information, visit charlottejournalism.org.

House Charlotte

NC Home Advantage

USDA home loan

NC housing finance agency

Homepath

House Concord Program

HUD home program – Home Investment Partnership Program

HUD home program - Good Neighbor Next Door

HUD home program – Neighborhood Stabilization Program