Scaling up the production of modular and prefabricated homes are among the promising housing solutions that Governors in the West have been working to support recently, as western states continue to face housing supply shortages across the region.

Modular homes, which are generally constructed off-site in a factory, are often cheaper and quicker to build than traditional construction. Modular building can even reduce construction time by 30% to 50% in some cases, which could provide a boost to states looking to quickly develop a lot of high quality housing.

Last week, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek hosted housing experts and leaders in Bend, Oregon, for the second workshop of New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s WGA Chair initiative, BRAND West. On the second day of the workshop – which covered a wide range of housing topics – experts dove into the role that modular housing can play in the effort to bolster housing supply in the West.

The panel included Oregon state Senator Dick Anderson, Colorado Governor Jared Polis’ Senior Housing Policy Advisor Megan Yonke, Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory staff scientist Max Wei, ZenniHome founder Bob Worsley, and Trillium Advisors Principal Margaret Van Vliet. The session covered innovative ways to scale the production of modular housing to meet housing demands and community development goals. Click here to watch the full discussion.

In addition to Governor Lujan Grisham’s Chair initiative, Western Governors are working with their state legislators and the private sector to get more attainable modular housing off the ground.

In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis recently helped support eight modular housing manufacturers across the state that use innovative techniques like panelized construction, tiny homes, kit homes, and 3D-printed homes. In all, these manufacturers are projected to build 4,755 housing units per year while creating 1,280 jobs. Governor Polis also recently announced that state funding in 2025 will further prioritize cost-effective modular housing projects.

In Jackson, Wyoming, where housing shortages are squeezing the local workforce, the state’s Game and Fish Department is bringing in prefabricated modular homes for its employees. The homes are assembled in a factory in Idaho and shipped to Jackson where employees are able to rent for a much more affordable price. Similar workforce housing models are being implemented in places like Yellowstone National Park and Big Sky, Montana.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox has also been at the forefront of modular home development. He recently signed a bill to set a statewide standard for building modular homes, and he called modular development “a real game changer” for communities looking to build housing quickly. Governor Cox has set an ambitious goal of building 35,000 new starter homes in Utah in the next five years.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek and the Oregon Legislature have also accelerated modular housing production through the Modular Housing Development Fund, which has awarded $20 million to local companies. The developers under this program will focus on low- and middle-income development, as well as housing options following a wildfire or another natural disaster.

Learn more about Western Governors’ work on housing in WGA’s BRAND West initiative.

Colorado water investments: in Colorado, Governor Jared Polis celebrated a historic round of grants from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to fund water projects in the state totaling $176.8 million.

Included in the funding is up to $40 million to help the state purchase the Shoshone water rights from Xcel Energy, which will protect flows for more than 250 miles of the Colorado River and help sustain agriculture, provide water for ranchers and communities, and bolster outdoor recreation.

San Francisco overdose deaths down: overdose deaths in San Francisco dropped to their lowest level in five years in 2024, according to new data from the city’s chief medical examiner.

Overdoses are down 22% in the city since last year, and December was the ninth straight month that showed fewer year-over-year deaths. The director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health credited increased access to treatment and overdose-related medications for the drop this year.

Read more about Western Governors’ bipartisan policy on this issue in WGA Policy Resolution 2024-04, Combatting the Opioid Crisis.

Marshall fire survivors support L.A.: survivors of the 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colorado, are working to raise funds and offer support to those affected by the fires in Los Angeles.

Marshall Fire survivors created Marshall Together, a nonprofit group for those affected by the fire, and they are now sharing lessons learned with L.A. residents. One piece of advice to help begin recovery was to create a private channel on the messaging platform Slack to help cut through the noise and constant flood of information inundating L.A. residents.

Learn more and access resources on the L.A. wildfires at fire.ca.gov

Affordable housing for tribal communities: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $150 million in funding to improve access to affordable housing in tribal communities via the Indian Housing Block Grant Competitive Grant program.

The funding will go to 32 communities across 16 states and result in approximately 412 new housing units and 123 rehabilitated units to benefit Native families. Of the 32 projects, 26 will be in western states, with projects in Alaska, Montana, South Dakota, Idaho, Washington, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Nevada.

Boise State professor’s discovery on Mars: physics professor Brian Jackson from Boise State University has been using data and video from NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars to measure previously unknown weather patterns on the red planet.

His team has been able to calculate wind speeds that were much higher than expected, which Jackson said will be essential knowledge if humans are to venture to the surface of Mars in the future.