Hack-A-House is a 24-hour virtual hackathon-style competition for any college or university student (undergraduate or graduate level) to formulate and pitch innovative ideas to improve housing affordability.
Hack-A-House is 100% virtual. The competition kicks off at noon Mountain Time on Friday, September 26, and ends following the Winner Announcement at 1:30 PM Mountain Time on Saturday, September 27.
All undergraduate and graduate students are welcome. The competition is US-based, so prompt subject matter may focus more heavily on US-specific housing challenges. However, students from other countries are welcome to compete as well. Our judges always appreciate international perspectives!
Hack-A-House General Information
At noon MT on Friday, September 26, three carefully crafted prompt topics will be released, each designed to address a specific challenge impacting housing affordability. Participants will select one of these topics to focus on. Following their selection, they will delve into research, consult with industry experts, and develop a comprehensive understanding of the issue. Over the course of the day and evening, teams will work to prepare a short but impactful slide deck summarizing their proposed solution.
Slides must be uploaded by 8:45 am MT on Saturday, September 27. Between 9:30 am and noon MT on Saturday, participants will pitch live via Zoom to a panel of judges and competing teams. After deliberation, the judges will announce one winner for each topic later that same day.
Participants will have access to live Zoom calls with housing industry experts. In addition, the Ivory Innovations team will be available to answer questions and help you craft your pitch during the competition. See the Schedule page for more details.
Event Structure
The virtual competition culminates in the selection of three category-winning teams. These teams will receive $3,000 each and will be invited to present their ideas at the Ivory Prize Summit. Ivory Innovations will cover airfare for all team members and provide one hotel room per team.
At the Summit, each category-winning team will present to a live audience of entrepreneurs, academics, and housing professionals. After the pitches, the audience will vote to select a Grand Prize winner, who will receive an additional $2,000.
In addition to the category and Grand Prize awards, Ivory Innovations will also present a $1,000 People’s Choice Award to the team that receives the highest number of votes during the nomination window.
Winners are selected by a panel of judges based on the following criteria:
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Innovation & Uniqueness: Is the proposal different from what exists in the industry today? Remember, the “difference” can be small or subtle, but it should be significant to your solution’s impact.
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Scalability: Is there a clearly articulated path to replication or expansion? If there are obvious barriers to scalability, does the submission directly address how these barriers would be overcome?
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Feasibility: Is the proposal realistic? Consider starting costs, policy barriers, technological constraints, etc. Hack-A-House is about innovation, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box… just not too far. If you do come up with something particularly pioneering, be sure to spend time in your presentation articulating your path to implementation. How would you overcome key barriers?
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Adherence to the prompt: Does the proposal effectively address the specific challenge outlined in your chosen prompt?
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Prizes and Recognition
Register at hackahouse.org/register.
Hack-A-House is - and will always be - 100% free for all participants. We thank our sponsors for helping to support this year’s competition.
You can register as an individual or as part of a team of up to five students. If you register as an individual, we will help match you with other participants to form a team. To register as a team, each member should register individually using the same team name.
You do not need to stay up for 24 hours to participate. You should work on your solution for the length of time you deem best! Over the years, we’ve seen winning teams that worked on their submissions for just a few hours as well as winners who stayed up most of the night perfecting their pitch.
Participation Details
In addition to Ivory Innovations' sponsors, who support all of Ivory Innovations’ work, Hack-A-House 2025 is supported by Think Wood, Zions Bank, and Focus Engineering.
For sponsorship opportunities, please reach out to hah@ivoryinnovations.org.
Support and Sponsorship
The best way to stay updated is to simply register for the competition! Besides that, we invite you to follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.
For any additional questions, please reach out to hah@ivoryinnovations.org.