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February 19, 2026

Factory-built housing hasn't taken off in California yet, but this year might be different

  • If the goal is to bring down building costs, rethinking the basics of the construction process is one place to start.
    • By BEN CHRISTOPHER
    CalMatters

    Photo via Nibbi Brothers General Contractors [enlarge]
    In California’s major urban areas, cranes delicately assembling factory-built modules into apartment blocks have become a more familiar feature of the skyline.

    As the first home rolled off the factory floor in Kalamazoo, Michigan — “like a boxcar with picture windows,” according to a journalist on the scene — the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development proclaimed it “the coming of a real revolution in housing.”


     
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