Prefab housing ‘one of many options’ MCK is considering to solve housing problem
Mohawk Council of Kahnawake executive operations officer Alan John Rice said prefabricated housing is “just one of many,” options the MCK is considering in an effort to help solve the community’s housing shortage.
“It’s exploratory at this point,” Rice said. “The main thing is we just want to be transparent about what we are looking at and what the housing unit is considering as solutions. The more immediate use would be as rental units, but depending on the funding envelopes we can access, we’d like to offer different programs which could include the prefabs.”
Such programs might include “rent-to-own as well as non-social-housing rentals – but both of those options need further exploration, though,” Rice explained.
Rice said the homes, which are bult outside of the community and transported and assembled on the housing site, would be one of a number of different solutions that the MCK’s Housing Unit is looking into.
“Obviously we want to look into as many options as we can. It wouldn’t be the only option we would use, either. It’s something new for us. It’s a new way of potentially getting people the housing they need,” he said.
Rice said in any situation where housing funding might come available, prefab – also called modular housing – would be just one of many options MCK would use and could use for housing in the community. One benefit would be that modular homes will be equal or superior in construction quality at a considerably lower price point.
“Obviously it would be one option – we want to also use local contractors for other new builds if we end up in that position,” he said. “It’s just one of many options we will explore going forward and we will be transparent.”
The MCK Housing Unit director said a mix of prefab and traditionally-built housing would be ideal for the community.
“Co-existence of prefab and regular housing would be ideal,” Areti Malliarou said.
The Housing Unit is inviting feedback and is encouraging community members who have experience with modular homes to share their experiences, for better or for worse. Any feedback, along with comments or questions, can be shared with the Housing Unit at 450-638-0500.
Marc Lalonde, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Iori:wase
