Homes

WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE?

Few amenities are more fundamental to life and comfort than a home. It is a place where people sleep, entertain and break bread with friends and family; retreat from the busy world; and raise their children. For many, home is a sacred, personal space, and it can take many forms. It can be a single-family detached home in the suburbs or in a small town or city. It can be an apartment or condominium in a multifamily building, a place where two or more households live under the same roof, an intergenerational family home or a homestead in a rural setting.

Regardless of its form, a home is essential shelter — yet quality, affordable housing is in short supply in communities across North America. In fact, recent research suggests the United States ended 2020 with a housing supply deficit of close to 4 million units. While construction and building materials are certainly part of the cost of building new homes, real estate costs (the land) are the primary driver of this shortage. Additionally, a preference for single-family zoning drives housing scarcity and escalates costs, diminishing affordability. Adding to the challenge, housing costs and rental prices are increasing, while median household income remains relatively flat.

WHAT IS OUR ROLE?

Working with partners and through our deep industry and supply chain expertise, we believe we can significantly increase the overall availability of quality, affordable housing — faster, more efficiently and at a scale to make a real difference for communities of all sizes across North America. And we see three areas, in particular, where we can have an important role in accelerating the volume, affordability and diversity of housing on the market.

The first involves innovating in the wood products industry to improve building speed and efficiency — essentially enabling developers to construct more houses with the existing constraints of labor, time and expenses. The second involves updating building codes and techniques to allow wood construction in midrise buildings of 5 to 10-plus stories, greatly multiplying the density of available housing. And the third involves supporting the development of nontraditional housing — from accessory dwelling units to tiny homes and other detached structures — to provide flexible alternatives for creating new homes through wood-based construction.

To get there, we need to ensure enough options are available to meet different income levels and suit different geographies, and we also need to improve the overall understanding and acceptance of wood as the most sustainable, versatile and cost-effective building material. We see a double win in achieving these goals: More wood construction also decreases our planet’s dependence on building materials such as concrete and steel that rely on large amounts of fossil fuels in their production and use and have much higher environmental impacts than wood.

WHAT DO WE WANT TO ACHIEVE BY 2030?

By 2030, we envision a world where sustainable wood products are providing abundant, creative opportunities for ensuring everyone has access to quality, sustainably built housing. We want to be part of a paradigm shift where there are more housing options — of all shapes and sizes — anchored in natural, renewable and efficient materials.

WHERE ARE WE FOCUSED?

While there is much we can accomplish over a decade, we have structured our long-term goals into three-year segments, or sprints, to effectively prioritize and accelerate progress. During the first three years of our 3 by 30 Sustainability Ambitions, we are focusing our work in three key areas and measuring our progress toward specific actions:

MEASURING SUCCESS

In 2022, as we explore and implement these solutions for sustainable homes, we are developing measurable-success metrics for our overall 2030 vision and within each focus area. We plan to report baseline measures beginning in 2023.

FOUNDATIONAL SUCCESS

In this first phase of our work to achieve our 3 by 30 Sustainability Ambitions, we are laying the groundwork for meaningful progress toward our goals. The key objectives and accomplishments below are foundational to our success and will be updated throughout our journey.