About
Our mission is to use modern technology to provide affordable, sustainable, and healthy housing to all.
Our Goal
Our goal is to redefine what the homes and the cities of the future will look like and use modern innovations to get us there. We do not believe the problems with construction and housing can be solved piecemeal and we have come up with a comprehensive solution ━ not just in terms of health and sustainability but in including every part of the home, from foundation to solar panel-clad roof.
Our Values
We believe quality housing should be accessible to all and that low cost does not have to mean low quality. We are a Public Benefit Corporation because we feel that companies have an obligation to improve the lives of their customers, employees, communities, and benefit the planet along with the shareholders.
Our Process
We use engineering-first principles to redefine the ideal home and have created an optimized process to manufacture and assemble that home. We take inspiration from how nature solves problems and design modern technological solutions to mimic those.
Our Expertise
With a focus on engineering, robotics, materials, eco-home design, and virtual reality we are addressing the problems of construction with fresh eyes. We see the whole home as a single, complex product to bring it in line with the advances other industries have made.
Today's Construction Industry
According to McKinsey, today's construction industry faces several dynamics that add to the industry's complexity.
A Project-based Building Approach
The Problem
"Customers want specialized projects with different features and structures, but there is a limited degree of repeatability and standardization."
Our Solution
By designing the entire home as a product, made of repeated yet customizable parts, we can create flexible homes with a standardized process. Not only can we design customized homes to fit unique lots, we can seamlessly integrate the different products that already exist for the rest of the home directly into our structure.
A Highly Fragmented Ecosystem
The Problem
"A fragmented landscape of small companies with limited economies of scale has been created due to local market structures and ease of entry."
Our Solution
We have consolidated different parts of the home into a single supply chain and process. Our ability to create bricks from local recycled material means we can grow into new regions while keeping costs and CO2 emissions low. This allows us to grow in ways that are fiscally impossible for traditional construction. Our values-driven approach and superior product with lower prices ensures that any market we do enter, we will be competitive in.
Misaligned Contractual Structures & Incentives
The Problem
"Stakeholders (owners, engineers, general contractors, etc.) do not always collaborate well due to misaligned incentives."
Our Solution
Our digital system, locally-sourced structural materials, and productization of the home allows us to bring the entire design, manufacturing, and construction process in-house. This removes the friction from misaligned incentives and allows for flat prices. This model grants everyone aligned incentives, meaning every stakeholder benefits from designing and making the most optimal building possible.
The Team
Old problems require new solutions. We are not a team of architects and real estate professionals. We are engineers and designers, ready to apply new knowledge to an aging field.
Eliot Kahn
CEO / Founder
Eliot left his job as a Product Development Engineer to follow his passion and HumanKind Homes. After studying mechanical engineering at Cal Poly, SLO he brings his engineering background to the construction industry. With fresh eyes and an engineering-first design methodology, he is using Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) on the whole home as a complete product. By redefining what a home needs to do and optimizing a construction process to build that improved home, Eliot brings engineering best practices to an under-innovated industry.
Eliot Kahn
CEO / Founder
Dayne Littlewood
Designer / Co-Founder
Dayne is a digital illustrator and visual artist. With experience in home renovation and construction carpentry, he has seen the disconnect between traditional construction and the resulting built environment. He learned there are alternative, more intentional ways to build living spaces, so he became a part of the solution. His weekdays are spent designing, drafting and modeling passive, healthy homes the way they can be.
Dayne Littlewood
Designer / Co-Founder
Michael Erberich
Engineer / Co-Founder
Michael is an engineer by trade, and an inventor and technologist at heart. After graduating from Cal Poly SLO in Mechanical Engineering (Mechatronics) and Computer Science, he helped design the software and embedded system supporting the HaptX Telerobotic Glove. Now, Michael seeks to contribute his robotics experience to missions addressing pressing modern issues. He is committed to designing systems that will help us live sustainably and foster healthy communities.
Michael Erberich
Engineer / Co-Founder
Advisors
Our team of advisors know how people and homes interface and how to build a better system, both physically and socially.
Róisín Hyde
Architect / Researcher
Róisín is a chartered architect, doctoral researcher, Fulbright Ambassador and TEDx Talker at Queen's University Belfast. She has over 15 years of experience as a project architect on a range of conservation and new build projects for public and private clients. Róisín recently completed a Fulbright Visiting Research position with the UNC Charlotte where she developed a prototype, high-performance, low-impact, geopolymer concrete facade panel made with 96% industrial by-product and waste materials. View her TEDX talk on the circular economy below.
Róisín Hyde
Architect / Researcher
Jenny Kassan, J.D.
Attorney / Advisor
Jenny has over two decades of experience as an attorney and advisor for mission-driven enterprises. She has helped her clients raise millions of dollars from values-aligned investors and raised over $1 million for her own businesses. Jenny earned her J.D. from Yale Law School and a masters degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.
Jenny Kassan, J.D.
Attorney / Advisor
Britt Kahn, CAM
Property Management
Britt brings over 10 years of property management and development experience to HumanKind Homes. From loan procurement to project management, Britt has enjoyed helping communities grow to their full potential as well as genuinely connecting with her residents. Her goal with HumanKind Homes is to build upon the best practices in the hospitality industry and pass it along to our clients.
Britt Kahn, CAM
Property Management
Jennifer Jones
Real Estate Advisor
Specializing in the senior age group, Jennifer helps senior adult home owners downsize and move into a more manageable and carefree residence. With years of residential real estate experience, Jennifer specializes in managing the entire transition along with every aspect of the move into a new, safer, living situation. She has experience and understanding of the changing needs that housing must accommodate.
Jennifer Jones
Real Estate Advisor
L. Bentley Moses
Health Systems / Policy
Health systems and policy professional with 10+ years of experience leading teams to advance enterprise level initiatives. A passion for healthcare and public health work that advances equity, inclusion, and innovation, L. Bentley brings expertise on the public health effects that housing plays on society.
L. Bentley Moses
Health Systems / Policy
Zack Phillips
Engineer / Co-Founder
Zack studied Organic Solar Cells at Denmark Technical University and was an Augmented Chemistry Researcher at Rutgers University. His primary expertise is with thin-film nano-scale materials such as Graphene. Zack now applies his knowledge of simulation and synthesis as the Materials and Simulation Engineer at HumanKind Homes. His mission is to build integrity and strength through organic bottom-up methods to provide sustainable, long-lasting shelter.
Zack Phillips
Digital Simulation Advisor
Partners
We are working with values-aligned organizations to bring about the next generation of housing.
