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Construction of six prototype modular homes is under way in a warehouse at the Port of Portland鈥檚 Terminal 2. The project鈥檚 goal: Provide a solution to ease Oregon鈥檚 housing shortage.

Hacienda CDC is leading the pilot project that is among the first of its kind in the nation. The six homes made from Oregon-produced mass timber, supplied by Freres Engineered Wood of Lyons, will go to preselected families and individuals in four Oregon communities (Madras, Otis, Portland and Talent) by June. The homes range in size from studios to three-bedroom models.

Project team members include Salazar Architect, Walsh Construction and VALAR Consulting Engineering.

The aim of the project, called Mass Casitas, is to demonstrate how production of modular, mass-timber housing could be more 鈥渆fficient, faster and less expensive鈥� than traditional construction. The effort was spearheaded by $5 million in funding from the Oregon Legislature during the December 2021 special session.

On Jan. 27, city and state officials, including Gov. Tina Kotek and Sen. Jeff Merkley, community leaders and media members visited the prototype production site.

Oregon is short 110,000 homes for people at all income levels, according to state economists. To accommodate future growth, the state may need more than 580,000 new homes over the next 20 years, state economists have said. Last month, Kotek signed an executive order setting a new housing construction target of 36,000 units per year 鈥� an 80 percent increase over current production 鈥� to address the state鈥檚 housing shortage.

How homes are produced

Mass plywood arrives at the Terminal 2 warehouse as large, blank panels that are then assembled in modules (or boxes). Studios (426 square feet) are one box and two-bedroom (852 square feet) and three-bedroom (1,136 square feet) models are two boxes. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing elements are then installed, followed by windows, insulation and roof structures.

The biggest challenge was designing the boxes, said Leticia Cervantes, Hacienda CDC鈥檚 mass timber innovation director. The goal, she said, was to expose as much of the timber as possible 鈥� but not all MEP systems would allow this. A lot of time was spent in the design phase, she added, determining which systems to leave exposed, like electrical, and which ones to hide.

Another design consideration was the size to make each unit. Cervantes said with modular construction they needed the square footage to be replicated as best they can across the three different unit sizes.

Panels come in sheets about 9 feet by 48 feet (2 inches thick) for the walls and about 11 feet by 48 feet (4 inches thick) for the floors and roof. A single modular unit (studio) became 11 feet, 10 inches by 36 feet. Two-bedroom and three-bedroom units are double that width, with lengths of 36 feet and 48 feet, respectively.

Once complete, the boxes will be trucked fully intact 鈥� furnishings and all 鈥� to the selected communities. There, nonprofit partners will receive the boxes and place them on sites. Community partners include CASA of Oregon, Cascade Relief Team and Community Vision.

The Mass Casitas team will then monitor how the homes perform in different climates and in utility by residents to improve the design and production process. Meanwhile, the team also will work to increase the capability of producing the modules at scale.

Future mass-timber factory

The Mass Casitas project is a part of a plan to build an innovation hub on the 53-acre Terminal 2 site. The facility would be used for assembly of mass-timber panels to build the modular homes that would be dispersed from the terminal to communities in Oregon.

Hacienda CDC CEO Ernesto Fonseca said the idea stemmed from a casual conversation he had with Port of Portland Executive Director Curtis Robinhold about five years ago. They sought a way to revive the empty warehouses at Terminal 2, Fonseca said.

Initially, Fonseca thought of multifamily housing, but the terminal is zoned only for industrial use. Then came the idea of combining 鈥渉ousing鈥� and 鈥渇acility鈥� by building the former in the latter.

The Oregon Mass Timber Coalition, of which the Port of Portland is a member, last year received a $41 million federal grant to help finance construction of the housing factory.

Hacienda CDC has applied to be the developer for the factory鈥檚 mass-produced homes, Fonseca said. If it is accepted and chooses to take on that role, he said he expects workers at the factory to be able to complete about one unit per day at opening and then about 2,000 units per year at full production. At this time, expectations are that with the factory at full production, a three-bedroom unit would cost roughly $375,000 鈥� but that is a 鈥渧ery鈥� early estimate, Fonseca added.

鈥淲e hit the jackpot, I think,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 do think that manufactured modular housing is the future, at least for now, until we balance our shortage of housing, and the new housing that we have.鈥�