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A volunteer in 2021 helps ready a new modular housing community in Sacramento. <\/p>\n
Ren\u00e9e C. Byer<\/p>\n
rbyer@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
California legislators on Tuesday announced<\/a> a package of bills that they hope will increase the use of homes built in factories and assembled on construction sites in an effort to help address the state\u2019s high housing costs.<\/p>\n The measures aren\u2019t flashy but seek to provide more certainty around building standards<\/a>, financing<\/a>, and inspections<\/a> to help increase the use of so-called modular homes.<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia is a leader in innovation \u2014 it\u2019s time we apply that mindset to solving our housing crisis,\u201d Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, said in a statement.<\/p>\n Legislators went on trips to Sweden, Idaho and Indiana; had conversations with labor union representatives, investors and manufacturers; and held hearings as part of a newly-created Assembly select committee chaired by Wicks. UC Berkeley\u2019s Terner Center for Housing Innovation also published a report<\/a> earlier this month about ways to help increase the use of the homes.<\/p>\n \u201cOur research finds that scaling factory-built housing in California depends less on technological advancement and more on addressing barriers across policy, financing, and project delivery,\u201d Ben Metcalf, the center\u2019s managing director, said in a statement. \u201cThis legislative package reflects those insights.\u201d<\/p>\n Metcalf, during one of the legislative hearings<\/a>, said only a few thousand of the factory-made homes are being produced in California and the western United States every year.<\/p>\n Questions remain about how large and quickly the modular construction industry can expand and whether the increased use of those homes will lead to pushback from labor unions. So far, leaders of influential construction groups have expressed optimism<\/a> that it would benefit their workers, but the groups have also had strong disagreements in other housing policy areas.<\/p>\n The proposals appear to steer clear of diving into that tension and focus on making changes that most Californians might not even notice.<\/p>\n The Terner Center report said many of the 67 people who participated in conversations for the research identified the cost to transporting modular homes as an issue.<\/p>\n One of the measures<\/a> announced Tuesday and authored by Assemblymember Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, would try and help address that by putting a limit on what technical requirements the Department of Transportation and local agencies can impose on manufacturers who are trying to ship modular home pieces by truck. It would also exempt companies that have a specific permit from needing an escort vehicle on highways while transporting factory-built homes.<\/p>\n Hoover, in a statement, called it a \u201ccommonsense bill.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published March 24, 2026 at 1:43 PM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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