STRATEGY
MATERIALS
Hemp Homes: ANew Sustainable Building Trend
AN EFFICIENT, ECONOMICAL SUBSTITUTE FOR NEARLY ALL BUILDING MATERIALS DOES EXIST
by Steve Streetman
nyone building or remodeling this past year has seen lumber, steel, and concrete prices skyrocket. Lumber has tripled and other building materials have increased similarly. How can investors who already have tight margins handle the increased prices? How can we continue to build A
and not outstrip the capacity of buy- ers to buy or renters to rent? The answer might be . . . hemp. First let’s distinguish between hemp and its evil twin marijuana. Technically they are both referred to as cannabis. But they are different species of plants. You can’t get high
from smoking hemp. And hemp has a long history of multiple uses. It was one of the first textiles and one of the first types of paper (30 Gutenberg Bibles were printed on hemp paper). It is used in rope and sails (the origin of the word canvas is cannabis). It can be a good food source, has use-
54 | think realty magazine :: august 2021
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