A regional coalition is betting that homes built in factories, instead of entirely on site, can help close one of the Bay Area's most stubborn housing gaps: homes that middle-income households can actually afford.
The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) announced on Oct. 6 that two of its affiliated programs are taking part in pilot efforts in Alameda and San Francisco counties to scale up factory-built housing.
The grant
Last month, the California Strategic Growth Council awarded $3 million through its Factory-Built Housing Regional Pilot Program to a project called the Bay Area Middle Housing Accelerator. StopWaste leads the effort, with the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) and the Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) as partners.
BAHFA and BayREN will receive $365,000 of the award. According to ABAG, BAHFA will build its existing programs into financing for factory-built housing, and BayREN will work with local governments to review and improve how these projects get permitted.
What the project will produce
The accelerator aims to create a regional framework for expanding "missing middle" housing. That term covers the smaller multi-unit buildings, such as duplexes, fourplexes and townhomes, that fall between single-family houses and large apartment complexes. The project plans to develop:
- Standardized modular design prototypes
- Model zoning and permitting reforms
- Technical assistance resources
In the announcement, StopWaste Executive Director Timothy Burroughs said scaling up factory-built housing could deliver the middle-income homes communities need while keeping materials out of landfills, lowering carbon emissions and building a regional circular economy.
Daniel Saver, deputy executive director for housing and energy at the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and ABAG, said the project is part of BAHFA's commitment to developing products that deliver housing faster and at lower cost. BayREN Portfolio Administrator Jane Elias said the network will bring its experience working with building departments on permitting.
Why it matters for builders and homeowners
For contractors and small developers, the permitting work may matter most. Factory-built homes can come together quickly in the plant, but a project can still stall at the local building counter when each city handles modular units differently. Standardized designs combined with model permitting rules could make it easier to repeat a project from one city to the next.
The pilots are just getting started, and ABAG's announcement did not give a timeline for releasing the first prototypes or model rules. Bay Area Brief will follow the project as details come out.