Prefabrication and Modular Construction—A Potential Solution to Affordable and Temporary Housing in Ontario?

Canada’s housing crisis, and particularly Ontario’s, has reached an all-time high in recent years. Due to the lack of affordable housing, the federal government created the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) to fund the construction of affordable housing units. The RHI has a twelve-month delivery date from funding requirement which has contributed to partners turning to the use of prefabrication and modular construction methods to produce housing units in large quantities and in a timely manner. The current study investigates successful modular projects in Ontario in order to identify their key success-driving factors as well as limitations. These success drivers included the structure durability, ability to deploy and relocate, ability to flat-pack the structure for transportation, and the primary funding source for the project. Based on these factors, it is concluded that there is a gap in the industry in panelized relocatable housing structures. Whereas prefabrication and modular construction have been successful thus far in major cities, the study highlighted the need for a prefabricated or modular sustainable assembly using either light-frame wood or mass timber that can be easily deployed, assembled, and transported to meet the housing demand in remote communities in Ontario.