By Ron Rocky Coloma
A local company is proposing an innovative approach that could revolutionize the construction industry on Guam: 3D concrete printing.
Stars and Technologies is piloting a project to build affordable homes for homeless veterans on Guam, using 3D concrete printing as the cornerstone of the initiative.
“When most people hear the term ‘3D printing,’ they think of small-scale printers using plastics or metals,” said Ann Dela Cruz, co-founder of Stars and Technologies. “But imagine scaling that up to print entire houses using concrete.”
Dela Cruz was among the resource speakers at the 9th Assembly of Planners’ Symposium held Aug. 9 at the Hyatt Regency Guam, where urban planners, housing experts and construction specialists gathered to bring the island’s growing affordable housing crisis to the forefront.
Stars and Technologies is teaming up with the nonprofit group Got Your Six Seven One, also known as GY671, on the pilot project. The organization
is dedicated to helping Guam veterans and their families.
Dela Cruz highlighted the benefits of 3D concrete printing, emphasizing its efficiency, cost-effectiveness and potential to alleviate the housing shortage.
“The printer only prints what is needed,” she said, noting that the cutting-edge technology can reduce waste and lower construction costs. “This technology can be faster, better and cheaper. It’s faster because it prints continuously; better because it uses durable concrete and cheaper because it reduces the need for skilled labor and minimizes material waste.”
She addressed concerns about compliance with Guam’s rigorous building codes.
“The batch plant can adjust the concrete mix on demand to meet specific strength requirements, ensuring that the printed structures are not only compliant but also exceed the necessary standards,” Dela Cruz said at the symposium.
Titled “Affordable Housing Strategies in Residential Projects: Challenges and Opportunities,” the forum examined the realities of Guam’s housing market, characterized by rising demand, limited supply and inflation-driven cost increases that have left many Guamanians unable to secure affordable, stable housing.
Roy Gamboa, president of GY671 and deputy director of Agriculture, said the 3D technology “offers a real opportunity to provide affordable, durable homes.”
He underscored the potential of 3D concrete printing to address both the housing shortage and the needs of vulnerable populations.
Gamboa noted that GY671’s project was inspired by a similar initiative in Kansas, where a community built 49 tiny homes for homeless veterans. “We’ve seen how this can work elsewhere, and now we want to bring it to Guam,” he said.
Gamboa emphasized the importance of community involvement in making this project a reality.
“It’s not just about affordable housing; it’s about affordable living,” Gamboa said. “We have to create solutions that allow our families to thrive, not just survive.”
Gamboa also spoke about other serious challenges faced by Guam’s veterans, many of whom struggle with PTSD, depression and homelessness.
“Our veterans have sacrificed so much, and it’s our turn to take care of them,” Gamboa said. “This pilot project is just the beginning of what we hope will be a broader effort to provide sustainable housing solutions for all Guamanians."
Fernando Esteves, deputy director of the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority, keynoted the session.
“We have seen increased demand and limited supply, which has led to housing insecurity for much of our community here on Guam,” he said. “Inflation-induced growth is largely driven by external factors, and it severely limits our solutions in terms of development. We have to get creative.”
Esteves explained that housing insecurity on Guam is not just about the visibly homeless but includes overcrowded homes, multigenerational living arrangements and the "hidden homeless" who are forced to couch-surf or live in makeshift shelters.
“Housing insecurity has direct causal links to substance abuse, mental health disorders, suicide, reduced life expectancy, domestic violence, sexual assault, poor childhood development and future homelessness,” Esteves said.
Esteves called for a shift in focus from merely talking about affordable housing to developing attainable housing for the “missing middle,” stressing that “unaddressed housing insecurity really causes and makes worse societal problems.”
Siska S. Hutapea, president of Cornerstone Valuation Guam Inc., followed Esteves with an overview of the current real estate market.
“In 2014, the total residential real estate sales in Guam were only $186 million,” she said. “By 2021, that figure had jumped to nearly $450 million. But with interest rates rising, the market has cooled, and in 2023, sales volume dropped to $343 million, even as median home prices climbed to $375,000."
Hutapea described the severity of Guam’s housing unaffordability.
“At $420,000, Guam’s median home price is 5.6 times the median household income, which makes it seriously unaffordable,” she said, adding that the situation is even more dire for lower-income households.
“We are impossibly unaffordable,” she said echoing a term coined in a recent study of global housing markets.
Hutapea suggested that expanding infrastructure to make more land buildable and streamlining building permits could help alleviate some of the pressure on the housing market.
The session on affordable housing strategies revealed the depth of the challenges facing the island but also highlighted the potential for new technologies and collaborative efforts to bridge the affordability gap.
“We must be creative, we must be strategic and we must be united in our efforts to ensure that Guam’s housing market meets the needs of all its residents, now and in the future,” Estevez said.
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