JULY 2023CONSTRUCTIONBUSINESSREVIEW.COM 19A MODULAR SOLUTION TO THE HOUSING CRISISCountries worldwide are facing a housing crisis, with a massive shortage of homes to meet the needs of expanding populations. According to United Nations statistics, about 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing, and 100 million are homeless.While traditional construction methods struggle to swiftly supply the volume of homes needed to address the global housing crisis, Australian modular building company Fleetwood believes that the answer, in part, could lie in modular homes. Fleetwood Australia's Head of Design and Estimating, Katrina Knight, recalls a time when the modular building was used largely for demountable, temporary classrooms in schools. Since then, modular has grown into an industry that looks to the future - building greener homes that could be part of the long-term solution to the housing crisis to help people and the planet.Delivered up to 50% faster than traditional building methods, modular homes are built in parallel with land preparation activities. Installing prefabricating homes on site takes a few days or months rather than the months and years demanded by more conventional building methods.The modular solution offers permanent and multi-story high-rises assembled in the same timeframe, leaving many hailing prefabricated buildings as a vital key to the future and addressing the gripping global housing crisis. The scale of the housing crisisPopulation growth, increased construction costs, inflation, living below the poverty line, and the pandemic pressures have placed millions of people worldwide at risk of losing their homes. Globally the United Nations Human Rights estimates 1.8 billion people do not have a home to live in. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals that over 110,000 people are also homeless in Australia. "During recent decades, the percentage of the urban population living in informal settlements with insufficient security or tenure has grown. Homelessness has been on the increase, and the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increasing housing insecurity for many", cites the UN report.CXOINSIGHTSBy Katrina Knight, Head of Design and Estimating, Fleetwood
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