Tweaks to building codes, zoning regulations, and financing mechanisms could unlock the potential of modular construction in the United States.
In an article for the Center for American Progress, Michela Zonta highlights the advantages of modular construction, arguing that encouraging more modular home building can reduce construction and housing costs, get homes built faster, and improve safety for workers.
According to Zonta, “If governments engage in coordinated initiatives at all levels to bring modular building to scale, it could also help make housing stock more resilient and sustainable relative to the challenges of climate change.”
While modular construction makes up just 3 percent of U.S. residential housing stock, it represents 45 percent of housing in Finland and Norway. “Several factors have limited the United States’ market share, including financing and payment schedules, building codes and zoning, transportation requirements, labor shortages and costs, and stereotypes.”
The article recommends that governments “Expand financial resources for the modular construction of affordable housing,” standardize building and land use codes for modular building, and incentivize more modular production through tax credits and other mechanisms.
Read the full story: Fact Sheet: Using Modular Building To Increase Affordable Housing Stock
These Las Vegas tiny homes can be assembled in an hour
The city approved a project using modular microhousing units that will rent for roughly $1,000 per month.
Santa Monica Modular Project Offers Hope for Affordable Housing in Pricy California Cities
The Berkeley Station development used modular construction to build the project on a nine-month timeline.
Modular Workforce Housing Offers a Lifeline for Western Towns
Rapidly rising housing costs are pushing out the residents at the heart of local economies in resort towns across the country.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
Transportation analysts are optimistic that Raman will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority