Relationship marks one of the first residential builds to incorporate Plantd’s next-generation structural building panels
CHARLOTTE, NC / ACCESS Newswire / May 29, 2026 / Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region today announced a new initiative with D.R. Horton’s Charlotte North division to construct eight townhomes in the Harmony Ridge community-marking a major step forward in delivering affordable homeownership opportunities in Charlotte. The collaboration was announced at the Housing Innovation Summit in Charlotte on May 20.
Through these relationships, Habitat Charlotte Region, the City of Charlotte and D.R. Horton are combining their respective strengths to accelerate impact. Habitat has completed the horizontal development and permitting for Harmony Ridge, laying the foundation for new homes. D.R. Horton will lead all vertical construction of the townhomes, helping bring the community to life efficiently and at scale. The delivery of these homes will incorporate advanced building materials and technologies to improve the homeowner experience and reduce total cost for families over the life cycle of the home. The City of Charlotte plans to support eligible homebuyers through its House Charlotte program, which provides down payment assistance to help make homeownership more attainable for eligible low- and moderate-income households.
The build will incorporate structural building panels from Plantd, an Oxford, NC-based advanced materials company whose grass-based panels are engineered as a direct, drop-in replacement for traditional oriented strand board (OSB). Plantd’s panels offer 1.4x greater strength and twice the moisture resistance of standard OSB, with no changes required to construction methods, framing specs, or permitting. The Harmony Ridge homes are among the first to incorporate Plantd’s technology, offering a real-world proof point for what next-generation building materials can deliver: stronger, more durable structures designed with a path toward carbon negativity.
“Solving today’s housing challenges requires us to think differently about how we work together,” said Laura Belcher, President & CEO of Habitat Charlotte Region. “Our relationship with D.R. Horton is a powerful example of what’s possible when we align our strengths-combining innovation, scale, and a shared commitment to community-to expand access to affordable homeownership. Together, we’re not just building homes at Harmony Ridge-we’re building a model for how we can serve more families, more effectively, across our region.”
The homes at Harmony Ridge will be sold to Habitat homebuyers, expanding access to affordable homeownership opportunities for families across the region. Through the City’s House Charlotte program, qualified buyers may also receive financial assistance to help bridge affordability gaps and reduce barriers to purchasing a home.
“No single organization can solve Charlotte’s housing challenges,” said Warren Wooten, Assistant Director of Affordable Housing at the City of Charlotte. “Collaborations like these bring the strengths of the public, private and nonprofit sectors together to create more pathways to homeownership and long-term stability for Charlotte families.”
As part of this initiative, Habitat Charlotte Region will continue its core role in preparing families for long-term success in homeownership-providing financial education, mortgage readiness, and ongoing support-while D.R. Horton brings its expertise in streamlined, high-quality construction and has committed to building these homes at a reduced cost to help maximize affordability and impact.
“We are honored to collaborate with Habitat for Humanity to help eight local families achieve their dream of homeownership. Our team and trade partners are proud to put their skills to work for this community, and we look forward to seeing the lasting difference these homes will make,” said Kristin Bickman, North Charlotte Division President of D.R. Horton.
Plantd’s vertically integrated model, controlling everything from agriculture through panel, is designed to bring stable, predictable pricing to a building materials category long subject to volatile supply chains and dramatic price swings.
“Affordable housing is one of the hardest places in construction to introduce a new material, because every dollar and every day matters. The fact that Plantd panels work here, with a builder like D.R. Horton, in homes Habitat families will own, tells you everything about what these panels are ready to do at scale. With every Plantd panel storing carbon, affordability and sustainability stop being a tradeoff, and these homes are the proof,” said Nathan Silvernail, co-founder and CEO of Plantd.
The announcement builds on the broader mission of the Housing Innovation Alliance, which convenes cross-sector leaders to activate scalable solutions for housing affordability through innovation in technologies, materials, and partnerships. Through its emphasis on open dialogue and collaborative problem-solving, the organization is helping shift the industry toward faster learning cycles and real-world implementation of ideas.
“We built our crowd-accelerated innovation platform with a bias toward action, bringing together teams who share openly and collaborate in new ways. This is a powerful example of what happens when that mindset takes hold, turning shared insights and ambitions into housing solutions for local families,” said Dennis Steigerwalt, President of the Housing Innovation Alliance.
Harmony Ridge, located in Charlotte, is designed to provide energy-efficient, high-quality homes for families earning moderate incomes, with a focus on long-term affordability and community stability.
These relationships signal a new model for collaboration-one that leverages the strength of nonprofit leadership, government support private sector scale and materials innovation to expand access to safe, affordable housing across the region.
D.R. Horton
MediaRelations@drhorton.com
817-390-8200
Habitat Charlotte Region
Peter Brown
(704) 929-1808
pbrown@habitatcltregion.org
Plantd Media Contact:
Andrew Noyes
press@noisemakerconsulting.co
Housing Innovation Alliance
Dennis Steigerwalt
Dennis@housinginnovation.org
SOURCE: D.R. Horton Charlotte Division
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
