“The only way you could tell this home was modular is this little line here,” said John Litten, president and CEO of Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. Standing in one of the four 1,350 sq. ft, completed modular homes on W. 83^rd Street, Litten pointed to a slightly-elevated paneling on the floor of the open concept living room / adjacent kitchen and explained, “It’s just covering up or capping where the two pieces met.”

Litten has become very familiar with modular homes through his organization’s work constructing nine homes in 2024 (five on Matherson Avenue and four on W. 83^rd Street) with10 more planned to start construction in Collinwood in February, among others throughout 2025. Due to this experience, Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity has been involved in the City of Cleveland’s Request for Proposal (RFP) for Off-Site Construction Manufacturing, released on December 2, 2024. The City of Cleveland released the RFP with the Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund and has several other organizations listed as involved, including the Cuyahoga Land Bank.

The RFP’s aim is to identify and select a modular home manufacturing company to open a facility in Cleveland. The RFP notes that Cleveland is facing an affordable housing crisis and that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has estimated that there is a scarcity of approximately 15,000 houses in the city. 

“This is primarily due to the annual building rate being ~30% below the historical average,” the RFP adds. To provide more affordable housing, the City has stated their goal is to build 5,000 homes over the next 10 years. Establishing a modular home manufacturing factory in the city would be a part of this solution, in addition to providing new jobs to members of the community and making use of an empty commercial property on the east side. Round 1 RFP submissions were due from potential manufacturers on January 17.

[Photos from within the modular home.]

Modular vs traditional

Traditional construction builds a house from start-to-finish directly on the lot. Modular homes, in contrast, are constructed at the facility in different sections, then shipped to the site and assembled together on a foundation. 

Witnessing the assembly process has been a standout experience for Litten and has made that giveaway capping line really stand out for him. “These modular columns are done in two pieces, so big, long pieces put right next to each other,” Litten explains. “They’re essentially done on the inside, except for that marriage line. So it’s really interesting to watch the whole process,” he said.

One of the biggest advantages of modular home construction compared to traditional home construction is speed. 

“That house next door is already occupied. Got the family in by Christmas and the house was started in August,” Litten said while pointing to the neighboring home. “It started in the factory in August, while the foundation was being dug in August. So two things are happening at once that usually have to wait,” he explained.

Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity is not the only modular home developer in Cleveland. Seth Task, a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Professional Realty, has built modular homes with two partners through Rebuild Cleveland. His firm has several other lots they are applying to build on and different home designs they are developing. They were also approved by the Cleveland Planning Commission’s Design Review Committee in December to build six modular townhomes in Collinwood near the Waterloo Arts District. 

Task called out another advantage to modular homes that Clevelanders can truly appreciate. Task explained how the United States falls behind many other nations in percentage of residences constructed indoors. “This is Cleveland. I mean, look what’s going to happen here over the next couple of weeks, right? It’s going to be ice, rain, snow, nastiness and if you’re trying to build a house in that and you’re doing it conventionally, that house is going to be framed, put under roof, and closed up in, you know, relatively speaking, a week to two weeks. Mine are done in hours,” explained Task. 

Referring to his first modular home, Task continued, “From the time that the two boxes arrived at the house at the lot, to the time they were completely affixed to the foundation, completely enveloped, roofed and locked, it was less than five hours. So you know, there’s no rain inside the house.” 

Having first learned of modular construction after receiving his Green-designation. This designation is offered through NAR as a program providing realtors additional education focused on sustainability, carbon footprint, and options for energy efficiencies in houses, etc…Task also pays attention to the sustainability of off-site construction. “There’s less waste, there’s less time disruption, there’s less street disruption, I don’t have shipments of cabinets and drywall and counters and cabinets and lumber and roofing materials and all these other different trucks coming to the site that would normally be coming to the site during conventional construction. It all happens basically in one day,” he explained.

Although the construction method differs, both Litten and Task agree that the quality of modular homes is as good as traditionally-built homes. “What I’ve come to learn and see and realize is that this can be done at a high quality and still fast,” said Litten. 

“What the city is trying to do now in bringing a factory here is create some economies of scale,” said Task. While modular construction does have several advantages, it is not necessarily less expensive than traditional construction, particularly for one-off builds. “With having the houses come from a closer place, and several other cost factors that can be reduced if the factory is here, if we’re getting budget cost reductions on crane rental site set crews, if the city is helping with issues that they have not helped with before like lower permit fees, tap in fees, infrastructure assistance,” he said.

Selecting the Right Fit

Per the RFP, the selection process will include a Pilot Build where finalists will each construct 3-5 homes (10-15 total). All homes in the Pilot Build would be completed in 2025. Other planned goals for 2025 are to identify the first “greenlined” neighborhood to complete the first build of multiple houses in 2026, work with partners to establish demand for several years for the winning manufacturer, award the RFP and begin building the new plant.

Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity’s experience will be leveraged for the Pilot build as Litten’s team will collaborate with some of the finalists on their designs. The Initiative would inform builders that, “We need you to build five homes, say three different styles, and they’re going to be Habitat homes. You’re going to work with Habitat. So we would work with those new builders to figure all that out,” explained Litten. 

“Certain factories will only do certain things for you,” explained Task. “That’s why it’s so important that we pick the right manufacturer for this factory, because we certainly don’t want to build 18,000 of the same looking house. So hopefully we choose something that’s going to be flexible,” he said.

The long-term vision would be that, in-line with the City’s already-planned community improvement efforts, demand would be determined by neighborhood. The RFP states, “The target is to develop 100-200 homes per year focused on one neighborhood / district each year for 10 years.” The City of Cleveland also plans to work with the awarded manufacturer to pre-approve different home designs so any zoning or permitting processes can be streamlined.

Even though the builds are designed to be done in scale by neighborhood, Task encourages the need for flexibility among the areas covered by associated community development initiatives. “We have to be intentional, and we have to be strategic, and we have to be innovative, about how we take Cleveland from where we are to where it’s got to go,” he said.

Within the RFP, the potential manufacturers are provided a list of possible incentives that the City and its partners intend to support to allow for an easy transition to establishing the new business. These include city tax abatement, state and financial tax credits and grants concentrated around developing new jobs in Ohio, tax increment financing, and tax credit programs. Other incentives are focused on supporting workforce development, like Cuyahoga County’s Workforce Development Board and the Community Benefits Agreement and all of the community resources supported by Team NEO, one of the other partners listed on the RFP. 

In addition, the RFP describes the location, size, and amenities of the targeted site for the manufacturing plant and assures that, “The site is zoned for General Industry. It has been cleared and remediated and is ready for building.”

The next step of the initiative is assessing the RFP submissions and narrowing down the list of finalists that will move on to Round 2, the Pilot Build. 

Task sees this program embracing Cleveland’s built-in advantages and relative affordability compared to the rest of the nation and hopes it creates a ripple effect for all aspects of city development. ” People are moving here. We’re a millennial migration hotspot. But if we don’t embrace what is required for a city to grow, and that’s not just housing and building code. That’s support of the business community and having policies that businesses are comfortable bringing their headquarters or bringing regional businesses to. So I’m hopeful that we grow and that we loosen certain restrictions and policies that help support that growth,” he said.

“A modular factory is absolutely going to bring jobs to the city. It’s going to bring a vibrant opportunity to produce a greater volume of for sale housing to the community. It’s going to rebuild some of our communities that, for so long, have been forgotten. I think it’s a great initiative,” said Task.