Homes

WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE?

Few amenities are more fundamental to life and comfort than a home. For many people, home is a sacred, personal space, and it can take many forms. It can be a home in the city, suburbs or in a small town. It can be an apartment or a condominium, a tiny home, a backyard dwelling, an intergenerational home or a homestead. Regardless of its form, a home is essential shelter — yet quality, attainable and sustainable housing is in short supply in communities across North America. In fact, research continues to show the housing supply deficit in the United States remains between 1.5 million and 2 million units, while in Canada, an estimated 690,000 additional housing units will be needed to close the housing gap by 2035. While construction and building materials are certainly part of the cost of building new homes, real estate (the land) is the primary driver of this shortage, and a preference for single-family zoning also diminishes affordability and access. Adding to the challenge, housing costs and rental prices are increasing, while median household income remains relatively flat.

WHAT IS OUR ROLE?

As an industry leader, we have the opportunity to leverage our products, partnerships and position to significantly increase the availability of high-quality, attainable housing in communities across North America. Through our innovative and sustainable wood products, and our broad network of partners, including homebuilders, nonprofits and government agencies and officials, we can help support policies and accelerate the construction of attainable homes that meet housing needs across income levels and geographies.

WHAT DO WE WANT TO ACHIEVE BY 2030?

By 2030, we envision a world where sustainable wood products provide abundant, diverse options that ensure everyone has access to quality, sustainably built housing. We want to help lead a paradigm shift where people have more housing options — of all shapes and sizes — anchored in natural, renewable and high-quality materials.

WHERE WE ARE FOCUSED FOR PHASE 3 (2026 – 2030)?

While there is much we can accomplish over a decade, we have structured our long-term goals into three phases to better prioritize and accelerate progress. In 2026, we entered the third phase of our 3 by 30 Sustainable Homes ambition focused on two key areas:

Advance policies that increase attainable home construction.

Local, state and federal policies and regulations are powerful tools for removing barriers and increasing funding where it can have the biggest impact. This approach can also incentivize the private sector to play a larger role in scaling housing solutions across communities and geographies. To that end, we are working to:

Identify and prioritize high-impact federal and state policy opportunities that remove impediments to, or increase, the construction of attainable housing.
Execute legislative and advocacy strategies that advance the most feasible and impactful policy opportunities.

Advance construction of attainable housing through collaborations and partnerships.

Through cross-sector partnerships with industry, nonprofit and community organizations, we aim to unlock funding and incentivize building in the regions where we operate to scale community-led housing solutions. To that end, we are working to:

Partner with and support industry and nonprofit organizations that are unlocking funding resources to incentivize building in regions where we operate.
Facilitate collaboration among industry, private sector, nonprofit, academic and government partners to scale community-led housing solutions.
Strengthen relationships through strategic engagements, education and collaboration.
Develop product and service solutions that reduce building costs and shorten construction cycle times to support more attainable housing.
Co-author a solution guide with our Rural Communities ambition team to share learnings from our experience and provide business leaders and government officials a framework for solving attainable housing challenges.

PHASE 2 ACHIEVEMENTS (2023 to 2025)

During the second phase of our 3 by 30 Sustainability Ambitions, we intentionally made fewer — but more strategic — investments of our time and resources, building on our Phase 1 achievements.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Expanded research and design initiatives with our academic partners at the University of Arkansas and Clemson University.

At Arkansas, we supported three design projects through an ongoing research fellowship to:
- Develop 3D-printing capabilities using bio-based materials, including completing a full-scale printed installation in 2025 and producing 12 prototype home concepts; and
- Complete schematic designs for both an adult family home and an L-shaped patio house that can be configured for multifamily or mixed-use buildings, demonstrating the versatility, strength and beauty of sustainable wood products.
At Clemson, we supported the creation of a design studio and competition to address attainable housing. Expert judges reviewed entries and identified the winners, resulting in the publication of a four-part, digital studio book (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4).

Launched the Weyerhaeuser Innovation Challenge with Habitat for Humanity International to highlight ideas for using wood products to build attainable, high-quality homes.

Six Habitat affiliates from across the U.S. were selected during the 2024 challenge to develop and implement their winning ideas that use wood products to increase fair access to attainable homes. The innovations advanced key sustainability priorities, including workforce development, disaster resilience and construction-waste reduction, and most demonstrated potential to scale across Habitat’s 1,100 affiliate locations.

FOUNDATIONAL SUCCESSES FROM PHASE 1 (2020 to 2022)

During the first phase of our 3 by 30 Sustainability Ambitions, we laid the groundwork for meaningful progress toward our goals.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Supported research and development partnerships to improve construction efficiency and increase the availability of wood-based housing options.

Advocated for state adoption of the International Building Code’s 2021 provisions enabling mass timber construction projects up to 18 stories. We continue to work with partners and associations at the state level to grow acceptance of mass timber, position innovative wood building materials as low-carbon options and encourage state legislators to expand mass timber promotion and construction projects.
Awarded a grant to the University of Arkansas’ Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design in 2020 for a research project and design studio called “Wood City: Timberizing the City’s Building Blocks.” The project received a 2021 Green Good Design Award.
Funded a second design research project at Arkansas in 2021 titled, “A Just Home for the Arkansas Timberlands.” Together, these projects amplified the school’s emphasis on timber and wood products and attainable housing, while attracting new partners interested in using mass timber for affordable housing, including in rural, forest-based communities.
Supported mass timber and wood innovation projects conducted by Clemson University’s Wood Utilization + Design Institute.
Joined Ivory Innovations as a founding partner in 2020 to support innovations in attainable housing, including policy, regulations, finance, construction and design. We funded research and supported an annual award to recognize innovative solutions and initiatives around affordable housing.
Sponsored  Operation Tiny Home’s “Alpha” House in 2021 — a prototype small home designed specifically for veterans with service animals and built in part with our products. The home was later donated to Mattersville, a Colorado-based nonprofit supporting veteran housing.

Leveraged our relationships with global organizations to increase acceptance of wood-based solutions to both the housing and climate crises.

Since 2021, we have sponsored the International Mass Timber Report, which informs the International Mass Timber Conference. We participated in panel discussions and networking at the conference.
Leveraged our 2021 participation in the National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders’ Show to highlight our sustainability commitments and engage our supply chain and customers in discussions about our 3 by 30 Sustainability Ambitions and the role of wood products in expanding housing options.
Joined the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Mass Timber Action Committee in 2021, a group of civil society and business leaders focused on bringing sustainable mass timber to the mainstream. We participated in a virtual panel discussing the future of mass timber as a member of the committee.

Identified legislative priorities that include advancing markets for wood products and mass timber.

In 2021, our government relations team worked with our business leaders to identify innovative wood building materials and mass timber building-code adoption as top priorities in our legislative action plans.