Modular Workforce Housing Offers a Lifeline for Western Towns

Major employers in Western towns are turning to modular housing units to provide affordable housing for workers increasingly squeezed out of the local housing market, reports Hanna Merzbach for Marketplace.

In Jackson, Wyoming, the state’s Game and Fish department is subsidizing housing for some of its employees. “Prebuilt homes bypass the challenge of trying to find local construction workers, and modulars can cost less. Wyoming Game and Fish saved more than $5 million on seven buildings, according to the architect, Greg Mason.” In Kemmerer, Wyoming, employment at a new nuclear plant is prompting the town to bring in 90 modular units, which offer more cost savings at scale than individually.

Modular housing has become a hot topic for housing advocates who want to see the typology, which is often excluded by zoning codes and limited from accessing loans, legalized and regulated more broadly.