A Pittsburgh-based modular pre-fab housing startup has landed national recognition for its commitment to addressing the affordable housing needs of racial minorities and other populations.
As part of that recognition, national housing financial services firm Fannie Mae has awarded one of the five contracts from its $5 million Innovation Challenge 2022 to Garfield-based Module Design Inc.
Module will use the funds to help grow its Last Mile Network project, which it is now looking to expand beyond Pittsburgh by bringing it to Prince George’s County, Maryland, and to Richmond, Virginia.
The startup will partner with Enterprise Community Partners, one of the nation's largest Black-led affordable housing developers, to test the feasibility of such an initiative. Module's Last Mile Network is looking to create locally owned modular construction "micro-factories" that can build the various modular components of the homes the company designs and builds. Module is looking to create these small-scale factories in urban communities of color, which it then hopes will result in the creation of "good-paying" jobs in the construction trades, the company said.
"We’re excited to deepen our impact in Pittsburgh and scale the Last Mile Network to new markets in partnership with Enterprise Community Partners," Module Co-Founder and CEO Brian Gaudio said in a prepared statement. "Their track record as a developer and network of development partners will enable Module to deliver more affordable units to urban communities."
Module claims such a facility takes up less than one-tenth of the land that a standard modular production factory requires. It opened the first part of this network, the "Last Mile Lab," in Pittsburgh back in May 2022.
Fannie Mae's Innovation Challenge comes from its Sustainable Communities Partnership and Innovation initiative. It has awarded a total of $7 million to 13 organizations that look to advance projects linking affordable housing to education, health and economic opportunities.
"The Innovation Challenge is one example of Fannie Mae’s commitment to address those inequities and knock down the barriers that consumers, particularly Black consumers, face throughout the housing journey," Maria Evans, vice president of community impact at Fannie Mae said in a prepared statement. "The proposals we selected provide thoughtful, tangible, scalable solutions to the most salient housing problems people face in the U.S. We are excited to work with these organizations and to support their innovative projects."
