In my project, I set out to address two pressing concerns facing Long Island residents: a critical housing shortage and the ongoing climate crisis.

Housing opportunities have not kept pace with the growth of the population in rural eastern Long Island. Since its inception in 1999, the government-sponsored Community Preservation Fund has acquired and preserved more than 4,000 acres of land. The fund aimed to maintain the integrity of the community but spawned a housing crisis. There is little property available to develop, and the real estate that remains is costly. Modest homes are listed for sale in the millions, forcing longtime residents out of their neighborhoods and preventing the average earner from investing in the area. Labor shortages abound. Town boards are reluctant to permit densely populated affordable housing complexes. Advocates for affordable housing cite a housing crisis, but challengers point to the negative environmental impacts that would result from the construction of additional housing. Indeed, the building sector, including construction, accounts for 38 percent of all energy-related carbon emissions, according to the UN Environment Programme. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that we must reduce emissions and remove carbon from the atmosphere in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100.

I propose to create U.S- coded and -permitted modular Accessory Dwelling Units made from natural, rapidly renewable, carbon-sequestering bio-based materials, such as wood, bamboo, hemp, and, in particular, straw bales, which are compact enough to be sited beside existing homes. These homes would be structurally sound, economically efficient, and environmentally sustainable.