SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Two young men, life-long friends from Cape Coral Christian School in southwest Florida, took a trip to Haiti with Mission of Hope in 2013. The squalor they witnessed in sprawling tent cities far exceeded their worst expectations. Brett Hagler described it as “crazy.” He and Mike Arietta knew something had to be done, and they were determined to be the ones to do it.

It’s Crazy

They weren’t sure exactly what they could do, but they knew that when a problem is crazy the solution often sounds crazy – until it’s not. What looks crazy when you first see through the windshield often looks like innovation when viewed through the rearview mirror.

Though not an FBO, New Story was born out of a mission trip by two young believers, and they continue to this day as integral parts of the team. New Story began as a not-for-profit crowdfunded venture to build small, hurricane-resistant, concrete houses in Haiti. Each home is built to Miami-Dade County building standards, some of the toughest in the U.S.

Mission of Hope has been and continues to be a working partner with New Story.

Building their business model with the help of Y-Combinator, a Silicon Valley accelerator, and with the help of innovative leaders in housing methods, the New Story team had built 62 homes near Leveque, Haiti, by July 2015. Having proven a viable solution, they began a new project to build 100 homes in 100 days.

New Story’s impact in providing permanent shelter for people enslaved by poverty is without comparison.

The team and its local partners have improved the living conditions of 1,443 lives in Haiti, with 750 homes in eight different communities. This is particularly impressive when compared to the Red Cross, which had collected $500 million for Haiti construction but managed to build only six homes by mid-2015.

The New Story team has funded more than 2,700 new homes in Haiti, Mexico, El Salvador, and Bolivia.

It’s Getting Even Crazier

And it’s going to get even crazier. In partnership with ICON and using ICON’s massive 3D printer, New Story has completed building its first two homes using 3D technology and specially-formulated concrete.

“Conventional construction methods have many baked-in drawbacks and problems that we’ve taken for granted for so long that we forgot how to imagine any alternative. With 3D printing, you not only have a continuous thermal envelope, high thermal mass, and near zero-waste, but you also have speed, a much broader design palette, next-level resiliency, and the possibility of a quantum leap in affordability. This isn’t 10% better, it’s 10 times better.”

The basic construction of the two-bedroom homes takes only 24 hours. The buildout is completed by local partner NGOs. The current cost of a 3D home is under $4,000. Planning and building begin as soon as money is donated for a new home.

New Story works hand-in-hand with other local partners to ensure that the families facing the most significant physical and financial needs are the first to benefit from this project. With the viability 3D process proven, New Story is now planning the construction of entire new communities to replace tents and other flimsy structures.

It sounds crazy. Until it’s not.

To learn more about New Story, take about three minutes to watch this YouTube video.

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