Kiro Action in the News
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March 10, 2022 | KXAN NBC Austin News and interviews Kiro Action with our homeless housing solution deployed for SXSW. We are a finalist for SXSW Smart Cities as a real-world solution that is deployable today. Read and watch more here SXSW: New solutions emerge for solving homelessness in Austin
March 10, 2022 | CBS Austin News interviews Kiro Action with our homeless housing solution deployed for SXSW. We are a finalist for SXSW Smart Cities as a real-world solution that is deployable today. Read and watch more here: SXSW takes over Downtown Austin on Friday bringing in tens of thousands of people
Print & Online Media
April 2022 | Kiro Action and our founder is referenced in the Austin Spotlight Article and Tech Crunch special event of forward companies in the region.
April 2022 | Kiro Action is referenced in another company’s funding accouncement in Tech Crunch
March 2022 | An amazing award....Kiro Action was awarded a SXSW Pitch Award as one the best start-ups in the world that covered nine different categories; it’s worth more than gold to us. 2022 SXSW Pitch featured 45 Interactive technology companies from 9 different categories. When we started this enterprise a few years ago during Covid, we knew we were on to something. Everyone told us it was a fantastic idea all the way through, and more importantly, there is a social need for it. SXSW, industry experts and VC’s validated it with this award.
Our goal was to create pop-up housing utilizing unutilized city-owned parking lots and fields to deploy housing for general/veteran homelessness and poverty alleviation. We made it pretty and dignified on purpose to make sure that it can be deployed in cities with more ease; if it’s a plastic shed, residents would argue that it doesn’t beautify locations, even though it might be an abandoned city-owned parking lot. Simultaneously, we deployed with customers to add room in their backyard for an extra bedroom, flex room and office. Applications for this structure additionally include:
-Crisis response housing after a hurricane or wildfires
-Pop-up hotels
-Migrant farm worker and refugee housing
What wasn’t on our radar is that customers are ordering this to add to their homes because it’s too expensive with construction and permitting costs in their location. Many of these homes are in lower socio-economic areas, which addresses poverty alleviation by keeping people in their homes and just adding some more space at a fraction of the price of remodeling.
What is really personal to me due to family members that have ailments, is that multiple customers have reached out and ordered units for their loved ones that have a disability. We have already designed and delivering the units that have wider doors for a wheelchair and ramps. One of the customers stated it perfectly, “we want our daughter to have dignity and independence, but not be far from home”; it’s not just an extra flex space, it’s much more than that.
For SXSW Pitch, we are a part of the “Smart City” category, and nothing exemplifies that more than a product that can be utilized in high density and expensive areas to address everything from homelessness to someone’s dignity to be independent. Corporations and VC groups, come sponsor 50-homes for a city of your choice and we will deploy it to address general/veteran homelessness. Hopefully, you join us on this ride.
A little bit about SXSW Pitch Awards.
From 2009-2021, 572 companies have participated in SXSW Pitch, with over 82% receiving funding and acquisitions in excess of $14.5 billion.
