New Story Inc.

The organization claims to be different from other homebuilding nonprofits by providing resources for communities to secure housing in addition to building homes directly. The group has completed projects including 3D printing neighborhoods, providing connections to financing for individuals without bank accounts, and promotes a variety of sustainability-focused building practices. ¹ The organization has partnered with construction companies and other nonprofits such as Habitat for Humanity in its work. ²

Background

New Story was founded in 2015 as a Y Combinator start-up project, the organization gained notoriety when it was featured in an Apple+ docuseries called “Home” that featured standalone episodes that “tells the story of an individual, family, or business that is redefining the conventional understanding of what a home is.” In the episode featuring New Story, the group creates a neighborhood in an impoverished Mexican town using 3D printing of houses to replace makeshift dwellings. ³

The organization has been led by co-founder Brett Hagler since its founding in 2015, Hagler describes himself as having had “a few start-up failures prior to New Story.” Hagler was inspired to start the organization following a major earthquake in Haiti and in 2015 entered Y Combinator, a startup boot camp, and created the business plan that became New Story, which was centered around sing new technologies to build homes for impoverished communities in developing countries. Hagler stated that the main goal of the organization is to house one million people in Latin America for less than $1,000 per household. ³

Activities

New Story has continued its use of 3D printing homes and additionally operates programs that provide other types of resources on housing, construction, and finance to impoverished Latin American communities. The organization claims that its focus on new technologies in housing, such as 3D printing is in response to traditional homebuilding being “too slow and wasteful to solve the growing housing crisis” and that the organization’s strategies have reduced costs and increased the speed of housing construction. ¹

The organization’s 3D home printing activities remain its largest focus with the organization partnering with ICON, a company that makes 3D house printing machines that “print” a house using robotic cement extruders. New Story states:

Building 3D printed homes is faster, and has the potential for higher quality, more affordable homes than the current industry standard. Partnering with ICON, our goal was to empower those who are building homes for families living without shelter — governments and non-profits alike — to do their best work. As we make these strides, it means more families around the world will have safe shelter. ⁴

New Story has also promoted the use of Bitcoin and blockchain technology in developing countries and promotes the use of bitcoin wallets in countries without reliable banking systems. Coinbase, one of the organization’s funders, paid for New Story to build over 100 houses in a coastal town in El Salvador that it calls Bitcoin Beach, with residents paying their mortgage with Bitcoin and making cash deposits to Bitcoin ATMs. ⁵