LETTER: Prefab housing an answer to Victoria's housing crisis

British Columbia is facing a housing crisis. We need solutions that are fast, affordable, and scalable. Prefabricated housing checks all three boxes. Modern prefab homes are high-quality, energy-efficient, and built in weeks – not months. They reduce construction waste by up to 90% and cost 10-40% less than traditional builds. With climate change accelerating and homelessness rising, we can’t afford to ignore this option. BC Housing already uses prefab for some supportive housing, but we need to go further. Other jurisdictions are ahead of us: Finland, Japan, and Sweden all use prefab extensively. In Canada, Quebec has embraced it for seniors’ housing and remote communities. Prefab also supports local jobs. Factories can be set up in regions hit hard by economic downturns, creating skilled employment in manufacturing, logistics, and installation. Critics say prefab looks “cookie-cutter.” But today’s designs are customizable, attractive, and built to last. They meet or exceed building codes and can be adapted for urban, rural, and Indigenous communities. We need bold leadership to scale up prefab housing across B.C. That means investing in local production, streamlining approvals, adding inspections to the factories, not just the worksite, accelerating the inspection schedule, and treating prefab as essential infrastructure. Prefab isn’t just a construction method – it’s a chance to rethink how we build homes in a time of crisis. Let’s act now to make housing more accessible, sustainable, and equitable for everyone. Geoffrey Conder Victoria