What if the housing crisis had a hack night?

Affordable housing is one of the hardest problems in the DMV, and it is not a problem anyone solves with code alone. But it is a problem where the right tool, built by someone who understands the local reality, can make a real difference to the people working on it every day.

GDG College Park is hosting the College Park site of GDG AI for Good 2026, a multi-chapter initiative running across Northeast Google Developer Groups this fall. This year's topic is housing.

Here is what makes this different from a normal hack day: your project does not end when the afternoon does. Submissions go to codingjam.dev, where you can keep developing them, and in January a panel of housing and technology experts judges submissions from every participating chapter against a shared rubric. A team from College Park competes with teams in Annapolis, Baltimore, Providence and beyond. Selected teams are invited to present at the Innovation Summit on December 2.

THIS EVENT IS FULLY ONLINE. JOIN FROM ANYWHERE.

SCHEDULE (all times ET)

12:00 - 1:00 PM - Expert panel on local housing challenges, co-broadcast live with GDG Annapolis and GDG Baltimore

1:00 - 2:00 PM - Workshop: building an app with Google AI Studio and Cloud Run, co-broadcast

2:00 - 6:00 PM - Build time in breakout teams, closing with demos judged on the shared rubric

Projects are scored on four pillars, 25 points each: Problem Validation and Social Impact; Technical Innovation and AI Architecture; Responsible AI, Ethics and Accessibility; Feasibility, Scalability and Sustainability.

WHO SHOULD COME

Developers, designers, prompt engineers, students, community advocates, and anyone who has watched the housing conversation from the outside and wanted to build something useful. No coding experience is required - some of the most valuable contributions on a problem like this come from people who understand the domain, not the stack. Teams form on the day, so come alone or bring people. Half-finished builds are welcome.

WHAT TO BRING

A laptop and a charger. A Google account - you will need one to submit your project and to claim Google Cloud credits. And one thing you have noticed about housing in this area that a tool might help with.

YOUR WORK STAYS YOURS

You keep full ownership of everything you build. Submissions are listed publicly on codingjam.dev, and by default code is released under Apache 2.0 with documentation under CC-BY 4.0 or CC0. If you would prefer to keep your source private, talk to us before you submit - linking a private repository may be possible.

Cost: Free.

Joining details are sent to registered attendees before the event.

Disclaimer: GDG College Park is an independent group; our activities and the opinions expressed here should in no way be linked to Google, the corporation.