April 16th, 2019
by Ryan Colker

The International Code Council and the Alliance for National & Community Resilience (ANCR) announced the creation of an expert committee to develop benchmarks for determining housing resilience in U.S. communities. The second of 19 functional areas of essential services, the housing benchmarks focus on the availability, quantity and quality of homes, emergency shelters and other housing options.

The Housing Benchmarks Committee consists of 21 subject matter experts from the public and private sectors who will make recommendations on metrics to help define and determine levels of achievement in housing resilience. Laurie Schoeman, senior national program director of resilience and disaster recovery for Enterprise Community Partners, and Adam Gordon, associate director of the Fair Share Housing Center, are co-chairing the committee. For the full committee roster, click here.

“This group of talented individuals, including housing professionals, architects, home builders and community development specialists, are lending their expertise to create the housing benchmarks. With their support, we can begin to tackle housing affordability, which is key to resilient and sustainable communities,” said ANCR Executive Director Ryan Colker.

Earlier this year, ANCR released its community resilience benchmarks on buildings with a strong focus on the important role of modern, up-to-date building codes in community resilience. Codes save lives and money, mitigate damage from natural disasters, and support financial stability and economic growth. ANCR will be developing additional benchmarks — to include water, energy, financial security and more — for consideration and implementation by U.S. communities.

About the Author
Ryan Colker
Ryan Colker is the vice president of innovation at the International Code Council where he identifies emerging issues in the building industry, including how new technologies can be leveraged by codes and standards, methods to modernize the application of building regulations, and the development of new business strategies that support members and building safety professionals. He also serves as executive director of the Alliance for National and Community Resilience. Most recently, Colker was the vice president of the National Institute of Building Sciences, where he led the institute’s efforts to improve the built environment through collaboration of public and private sectors. Previously, he was the manager of government affairs at ASHRAE.