SACRAMENTO, CA — The Assembly Select Committee on Housing Construction Innovation, chaired by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), is fully engaged in its mission to explore what role the State of California can play in unlocking innovative construction techniques to lower costs and increase overall housing production. Its work has included two public hearings in Sacramento in January and a series of tours of factory-built housing facilities, providing glimpses into what is working well and what challenges remain to increase the adoption of industrialized construction in California.
The Select Committee looked to Sweden, a global leader in industrialized construction, to gather policy insights that can be translated to a California context. In October, Assemblymember Wicks led a small delegation of members to Malmö. Over the course of three days, she and her colleagues — Assemblymembers Juan Carrillo (D-Palmdale), Jessica Caloza (D-Los Angeles), and Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) — met with a diverse group of key stakeholders who contribute to Sweden’s enormous output of housing built with industrialized construction.
The Sweden tour included a jam-packed itinerary of meetings with policymakers, academics, and industry leaders. The Assemblymembers learned about:
- The historical development and market dynamics behind Sweden’s success;
- How local government programs and public-private partnerships provide market demand necessary to adopt innovative building practices at the regional level;
- How vertically integrated housing developers are applying factory-built housing across large-scale residential portfolios; and
- How Sweden determines and administers building codes to unlock sustainable, innovative housing delivery methods.
The Assemblymembers also toured active developments that are utilizing factory-built housing and witnessed large-scale production in action during a factory visit.
In December, Assemblymember Wicks was joined by Assemblymembers Jessica Caloza (D-Los Angeles), Heather Hadwick (R-Alturas), John Harabedian (D-Pasadena), Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), and Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) on a second trip to tour factories in Idaho, which has become one of the most important factory-built housing manufacturing hubs serving the Western United States. Much of the factory-built housing in California is manufactured in Idaho before being transported into the state and assembled on site. A primary driver behind the Idaho tour was the Assemblymembers’ goal to understand what has impeded California from becoming a manufacturing hub, despite being a leader in innovation and having such an acute need for housing. During the trip, Assemblymembers were able to observe factory production workflows, labor practices, and quality control processes at three different locations. In discussions with the founders and employees of various companies, legislators explored the policy and market conditions that have led these factories to thrive in Idaho.
Complementing these successful fact-finding trips, in partnership with UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation and its affiliated nonprofit Terner Labs, Assemblymember Wicks’ staff organized a series of one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions throughout interim recess with key stakeholders in California’s industrialized construction ecosystem. Those conversations provided crucial insight into barriers that have prevented industrialized construction from being scaled up in the state, many which were echoed in two public hearings held in early January. The Terner Center will be publishing a white paper in the coming weeks summarizing what was heard and outlining key considerations for policymakers.
Assemblymember Wicks and her colleagues will introduce a body of legislation this year based on the work they have undertaken and the knowledge they have gained in this space, underscoring their commitment to finding innovative ways to bring down the cost of housing for working-class families across California.
###