To tackle the housing supply and affordability crisis, we’re going to have to find ways to cut through red tape and build quicker. Modular and panelized housing, which is built offsite in a manufacturing plant and then brought to a property, is one of the solutions that need to be considered.

Production of new housing has slowed due to inflation and a rise in interest rates, but our population continues to increase, so the demand for housing is only going to escalate in the coming years. Meantime, it has become more costly to build due to rising costs for labour and materials.

A golden opportunity exists for the building industry to innovate and embrace more modern methods of construction, namely offsite construction. We mass produce cars and other products like cellphones and electronic gadgets in manufacturing facilities. Why not housing?

RESCON held a housing summit recently and heard from a number of industry experts on modular housing. They all had the same message. Offsite housing can cut construction costs and enable housing to be built quicker.

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