NEWS RELEASE
BARRIE AND DISTRICT ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS INC.
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Barrie’s first Housing Hack brought out innovation and exploration as 10 teams worked on finding housing availability and affordability solutions.
The Housing Hack: Housing for Everyone took place this past weekend at Barrie’s City Hall. It was hosted by the Barrie and District Association of Realtors (BDAR), in partnership with The City of Barrie.
At the hack, participants used their skills, expertise and collaborative efforts to propose an informed and forward‐thinking solution to improve the future of living in the Barrie area.
Top 5 Teams
Bare Essentials ‐ 1st place team ($3,000 prize)
Team members: Jesse Belleau‐Karaskewich, Ethan Davis, Brian Vaughan
Submission: Team Bare Essentials identified that the average income in Barrie was significantly lower than the average home price in Barrie. Their solution, the Barrie Affordable Real Estate application seeks to secure mortgages for first time home buyers by considering supplemental income streams such as rental income and clean energy revenue.
Hütte ‐ 2nd place team ($1,500 prize)
Team members: Harlan Batchelor, Dylan Bromell, Connor Minielly
Submission: Hütte is a clean and effective platform for matchmaking landlords and tenants. In addition to making it easier for tenants to find the perfect place to call home, the application also allows landlords to find great tenants without just waiting to see how applies. The team suggested their app was "like Tinder for renters and landlords".
Happy Together ‐ 3rd place team ($500 prize)
Team members: Tasha Sandbach, Gwen Kavanaugh, Shelley Raymond, Moksh Soni, Sebastian Vasoff
Submission: Happy Together is an innovative solution to home ownership through co‐housing and creative financing solutions such as Social Impact Bonds.
Honourable Mentions
Barrie Easy Housing
Team members: Greg Cook, Jenna Cox, Lisa Rodgers, Christine Whone, Vivian Harvey
Submission: Barrie Easy Housing is a Mobile‐friendly web app to help connect renters with available units. Recognizing that the majority of rental units are on the secondary market, this app maps available units in a simple to use way.
Team Tiny Homes
Team members: Bonnie North, Rob Gerbrandt
Submission: Team Tiny Homes looked at the data and trends of home size (increasing to ~2,000sq. ft. home now compared to ~800 sq. ft in the 1950s) and density of population per home in the same tome frame (density is decreasing), and suggested that one solution to affordability and accessibility of home is to create tiny home communities. The team identified both cultural and regulatory changes that could be made to help make Tiny Home living a reality in Barrie and elsewhere.
For information or photos, contact 705‐739‐4650 ext. 4 or email [email protected]
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