Vancouver ripe for modular housing

December 2, 2017

Vancouver is planning to partially address its housing crisis by installing 600 temporary modular homes at a cost of $66 million in provincial funding.
The stacked modular units, similar to construction trailers, will be placed on two sites in East Vancouver to provide homeless shelters this winter.
Earlier this year, the city installed 40 modular homes, each 250 square feet, near a transit station. Rents for the units are $800 to $900 per month, but are lower for low-income tenants through an ongoing subsidy.
The modular units cost $75,000 each and take two months to build.
But two entrepreneurs have a plan to build and rent higher-standard modulars for a long-term delivery of low-cost homes. Vancouver developer Mukhtor Latif and architect Michael Geller said they are now looking for private land for their first structures.
The partners would use modular homes provided by Metric Modular (formerly Britco Structures), which can deliver factory-built structures in multiple floors.