State Board of Equalization holds hearing on modular housing, insurance and permitting hurdles for wildfire rebuilds

The State Board of Equalization held an informational hearing July 29 in Sacramento to examine how modular and factory‑built housing could help communities rebuild after wildfires and increase affordable housing supply. Board member Tony Vasquez convened the session to gather industry, labor and policy testimony so the board can advise assessors, legislators and state housing agencies.

Why it matters: California faces repeated wildfire losses and a long housing shortage. Witnesses said factory building can cut construction time from many months to weeks and potentially lower per‑unit costs, but several practical barriers — insurance coverage, permitting delays, local inspection capacity and factory scale — must be addressed before modular production can be relied on for large post‑disaster recoveries.

Industry and nonprofit witnesses outlined capacities and problems. Bea Stotzer, founder and board chair of New Economics for Women, described a planned pilot that would deploy factory‑built ADUs for displaced families after the Altadena and Pacific Palisades fires and urged state support for pre‑approved ADU designs and a wildfire ADU recovery loan program. “Modular housing is significantly less expensive and much more time efficient than traditional construction,” Stotzer told the board while warning that local permitting and on‑site inspections were creating long delays.

Manufactured‑home and modular builders detailed production timelines and financing constraints. A builder who identified himself as Manny Holmes said HUD‑code manufactured homes can be completed in factories in 10–14 days and delivered to a site in weeks, but that lenders and insurers are unfamiliar with modular financing. “We can basically get them back home for between 200 and $300 a foot,” he said, describing a turnkey offering for wildfire victims that includes permitting and installation.

Remo Homes, a California‑based prefab company, presented a technology‑forward approach borrowed from aerospace. Cofounder Vamsi Kotla and CTO Ryan Blowers described vacuum‑insulated panels and factory quality control designed to cut waste and operating costs. Dr. Partha Datta said advanced materials used in aerospace and semiconductor manufacturing could raise fire‑resistance and energy performance while reducing landfill waste. Kotla said a three‑bedroom model could be produced for about $220 per square foot and called for coordinated public incentives for factory investment and workforce training.

Model Z and Sola Impact representatives argued for factory capacity inside California to cut transport risk and to standardize apartment‑style modular units. Bill O’Neil, vice president of capital markets at Sola Impact, said a Los Angeles factory already in operation reduces logistical uncertainty and can hasten housing delivery. “What this has done for us is it has eliminated what I’m going to call transportation risk,” O’Neil told the board.

Labor and workforce representatives urged that factory growth include union‑scale jobs and apprenticeship pathways. Chris Hannon, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, said the trades will adapt to new methods but insisted public incentives require labor standards and training set‑asides. He pointed to a Full Stack Modular factory in Carson as an example of a factory operating with labor‑peace agreements and union labor on site.

Common barriers and board takeaways: witnesses repeatedly flagged insurance acceptance as a bottleneck — insurers sometimes classify modern modular homes like older mobile homes and refuse standard homeowner policies — and urged state actors to engage the insurance industry and consider incentives tied to verified fire‑resistant standards. Panelists also asked the state to allow third‑party inspections to speed approvals, to expand pre‑approved modular design libraries at HCD, and to pair demand‑side housing incentives with supply‑side factory credits so manufacturers can sustain production through housing market cycles.

No formal action by the board was taken; the hearing was informational. Board members said staff will prepare a report and follow up with stakeholders, and several requested further analysis on insurance, financing tools and inspector capacity.