California Lawmakers Aim to Boost Factory-Built Housing in 2026

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks leads effort to streamline regulations and funding for off-site construction as a way to address the state's housing shortage.

Published on Feb. 13, 2026

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California lawmakers are considering factory-built housing as a way to cut building costs and speed up construction to address a housing shortage. Assemblymember Buffy Wicks has held hearings to build political momentum and legislative buy-in for a coming package of bills aimed at supporting the off-site construction industry. While past attempts to industrialize home-building have failed, proponents believe the time may be right to give it another try, with the state potentially playing a role in ensuring a steady pipeline of projects, insuring factories against risk, and standardizing building code requirements.

Why it matters

California's housing crisis has persisted for years, with high construction costs and slow building timelines contributing to the shortage. Factory-built housing offers the potential to reduce costs by 10-25% and speed up construction by 10-30%, but the industry has historically struggled with the high upfront costs of setting up factories and the cyclical nature of real estate development. State support could help address these challenges and make off-site construction a more viable solution to the state's housing woes.

The details

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks has organized hearings on "housing construction innovation," with a focus on factory-based building. The hearings are intended to gather information that will be summarized in a white paper by researchers at UC Berkeley's Terner Center. Wicks and other lawmakers are considering ways the state could support the off-site construction industry, such as by nudging affordable housing developers to use factory-built units, insuring factories and developers against risk, and standardizing building code requirements. While past efforts like "Operation Breakthrough" in the 1970s failed to industrialize home-building, proponents believe the time may be right to give it another try, with the state potentially playing a key role.

  • In late 2024, Wicks organized a series of meetings on 'permitting reform' that led to nearly two dozen housing-related bills in 2025.
  • Last year, the Legislature and Governor Newsom took steps to remove regulatory barriers to building dense housing across California.
  • Wicks and other lawmakers visited Sweden last fall, where nearly half of residential construction takes place in factories.

The players

Buffy Wicks

An Oakland Democrat and one of the California Legislature's most influential policymakers on housing issues, leading the charge to boost factory-built housing in the state.

Randall Thompson

Runs the prefabrication division of Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, who has seen a growing number of "modular-curious" clients in recent years.

Ryan Cassidy

Vice president of real estate development at Mutual Housing California, an affordable housing developer that committed last year to build its next five projects with factory-built units.

Ben Metcalf

Director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley, who has analyzed the potential cost and time savings of factory-built housing.

Jan Lindenthal-Cox

Chief investment officer at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund, a non-profit working to provide short-term, low-cost loans to cover the higher upfront costs of off-site construction.

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What they’re saying

“Over the last eight to 10 years or so the Legislature and the governor have really taken a bulldozer to a lot of the bureaucratic hurdles when it comes to housing. But one of the issues that we haven't fundamentally tackled is the cost of construction.”

— Buffy Wicks, Assemblymember (CalMatters)

“When you go to buy a car, you don't get 6,000 parts shipped to your house and then someone comes and builds it for you.”

— Ryan Cassidy, Vice President of Real Estate Development (CalMatters)

“Factory-built housing has the potential to reduce hard (labor, material and equipment) costs by 10 to 25% — at least under the right conditions.”

— Ben Metcalf, Director, Terner Center for Housing Innovation (CalMatters)

What’s next

Wicks and other lawmakers plan to release a white paper summarizing the findings from the hearings, as well as a package of bills aimed at supporting the off-site construction industry, in the coming weeks.

The takeaway

After years of efforts to remove regulatory barriers to housing construction in California, state lawmakers are now turning their attention to the high costs and slow timelines of traditional building methods. By providing support for the factory-built housing industry, they hope to unlock a new approach that can help address the state's persistent housing shortage.