Native Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute Launches

Enterprise’s Rural and Native American Program has officially launched their first Native Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute. This online program is based on Enterprise’s national Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute (AHDLI), which brings together the nation’s leading designers and affordable housing developers to collaborate on the creation of well-designed affordable homes and green, healthy, and resilient communities.
Five organizations have been selected to participate in a rigorous six-session online curriculum designed to teach principles for developing culturally relevant designs and best practices and to increase participating projects’ resident and community impact. The participating groups were chosen for their commitment to innovation on a current multifamily development project in their pipeline:
Santa Clara Pueblo Housing Authority – Espanola, NM
Pueblo of Jemez Housing Authority – Jemez Pueblo, NM
Cheyenne River Housing Authority – Eagle Butte, SD
Homestead Community Development – Anahola, HI
Sisseton Wahpeton Housing Authority – Sisseton, SD
The program, running September 15 through November 3, will provide direct technical assistance to build both participants’ design and project financing skills, with the underlying understanding that better design is only possible when a creative financing strategy is also in place. The program also builds heavily from the idea that a Project Mission, a statement of focus for what the project aims to accomplish, unique from the organizational mission, is an essential element to both design and financing success.
Through charrettes and interactive workshops, the participants, in partnership with a Design Resource Team of leading national experts, will exchange feedback on real development projects in their pipelines, and work through specific challenges related to design, construction, policy and finance.
This year’s Design Resource Team includes:
- Mark Matel, Architect and Program Director, Enterprise Rose Fellowship
- Kaziah Haviland, Principal and Founder, Osso Studio
- Catherine Baker, Principal, Landon Bone Baker Architects
- Moira Villiard, Placemaking Consultant and Artist , Former Arts & Cultural Programming Coordinator for the American Indian Community Housing Organization
- Garron Yepa, Architect, AOS Architects
- Shawn Evans, Principal, AOS Architects
- Anne Schopf, FAIA Partner, Mahlum
- Octavio Gutierrez, Associate, Mahlum
- Sierra Bainbridge, Landscape Architect, Principal, MASS Design Group
- Joseph Kunkel, Director of the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab, MASS Design Group
- Nathaniel Corum, Senior Associate, MASS Design Group
- Patricia Gruits, Architect, Senior Principal, MASS Design Group
- Zoe Toledo, Student, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard Indigenous Design Collaborative
- Elsa Hoover, Student, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Harvard Indigenous Design Collaborative
This ground-breaking program is funded with support from Fannie Mae, and is being produced and delivered with MASS Design Group’s Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab.