Modular Homes Make Housing More Affordable in Chicago

In November, the first of dozens of planned modular homes was constructed on a vacant lot in Roseland, a South Side neighborhood in Chicago. The project is part of the Reclaiming Communities initiative, which aims to revitalize the South Side by building 1,000 affordable homes, writes Emily Soto of local news organization WTTW.

Modular homes, which are built in segments elsewhere and then transported and assembled on site, are more affordable and faster to build than traditional new construction, though many local jurisdictions in the U.S. restrict or outright ban them.

Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, told WTTW, modular homes are an innovative approach to generating homeownership for moderate- to low-income families.

“One of the key challenges that many historically disinvested communities face is a limited supply of move-in ready housing that’s also affordable for modest-income residents,” he said. He continued on to say, “[M]odular housing takes advantage of the sort of abundance of vacant lots and also creates a home that may be more affordable than other types of new construction.”

For Shenita Muse, executive director of the Hope Center Foundation, one of the organizations behind this initiative, told WTTW, “It is really about reclaiming our communities, revitalizing the city of Chicago … There are a number of residents that have been lost. Over 60,000 residents have moved out of the Far South Side, and so if we are to reclaim our communities and our neighborhoods, then we need to build homes.”