There is no shortage of ideas to address the housing crisis in America. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs recently advanced The ROAD to Housing Act, which would advance regulatory and financial reforms to make building and financing housing easier, and is the first bipartisan housing bill to receive a markup in that committee in over a decade. States and cities across the nation are implementing a range of new policies and programs meant to increase supply, preserve existing housing stock, and provide stability for low-income households in the housing market. New companies aim to change how we finance and build housing...
...Take offsite construction, which can bring down construction costs through design standardization and faster timelines. While offsite and modular construction represent the vast majority of new single-family houses in Sweden and a substantial minority in Japan and the Netherlands, they represent a tiny fraction of the new units built in the United States despite numerous attempts to jumpstart the industry. Among the major obstacles is an incredibly fragmented regulatory framework: There are approximately 39,000 municipalities in the United States, most of which have their own zoning regulations. Building permits are overseen by more than 10,000 “authorities having jurisdiction,” which are either municipalities or counties, that determine if proposed buildings comply with building codes. Because of regulatory fragmentation across jurisdictions, modular companies often need to create bespoke solutions to comply with local building codes, eliminating many of the time- and cost-saving advantages of modular construction...
Notes: Leo’s notes: This piece makes a sharp point: America’s housing crisis isn’t a lack of ideas, it’s a lack of policy entrepreneurs who can cut through regulatory fragmentation and push workable models across jurisdictions. Modular construction stalls because every city has its own rules, while housing production funds spread quickly thanks to consistent frameworks and advocacy. If Wisconsin wants real progress, we need leaders willing to champion reforms that harmonize codes, replicate proven financing models, and connect innovative solutions to the communities that need them most.
Ken Notes: Every session I attend is quick to identify the problem, offer great solutions, identifies key players... and stalls when it comes to implementation. We need smaller, denser, modular, affordable, stand alone stater homes. We supply this need with apartments which are small, dense, modular, and affordable. They unfortunately create wealth for the developer and owner but not for the tenant who will eventually try to enter the next levels of the housing market without the necessary equity to take that step.
Share this article on your social outlets
Our Sponsors
- - Volume: 25 - WEEK: 38 Date: 9/16/2025 8:49:40 AM -