New York City's smallest borough is slated to welcome 15 new homes next year, all of which were built in a factory in Pennsylvania.
Developer Urban Ecospaces Inc. has begun construction on a housing project on Staten Island that features seven single-family homes measuring from 900 square feet to 1,200 square feet. The remaining eight properties will be two-story, two-family structures ranging from 1,400 square feet to 1,900 square feet. The owners of the two-family properties will have the option of renting out the second space.
Officials said they want the owners of these modular homes to be New York City residents who earn up to 110% of the city's area median income. New York City's area median income is $145,800 — which means 110% would equate to $124,740 for a one-person household, $142,560 for two people, $160,380 for three and $178,200 for four people, city data shows. The projected price range for the homes is $300,000 to $500,000.
Tamia Perry, the developer's co-founder, said the new homes will sit on land the city owns.
"All of those sites that we're doing right now had homes that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy so badly that they had to be demolished," Perry told Homes.com.
The homes, which will be in Staten Island's Midland Beach and South Beach neighborhoods, are being constructed through modular building. "Modular building" is a real estate industry term for permanent, prefabricated homes that are built in a factory and delivered as a whole or shipped in sections and assembled on site.
In the Staten Island case, Perry said, the homes are being built within seven or eight days at a facility in Scranton, Pennsylvania, before being trucked to New York. They arrive in two to four larger pieces, with 70% of the construction work done, she said. Three of the homes have already left Scranton and arrived on Staten Island, and another four will likely be ready for final additions in January, Perry said.
"What we have to do once they’re set are basically things like utility connections," Perry said, adding that the home's landscaping, siding and exterior staircase are also finished on site.
Perry said she's aiming to finish the rest of the homes before the end of 2026.
Staten Island faces housing crunch
The modular homes are coming just as Staten Island is in the middle of a severe housing shortage. The borough saw its population jump 6.4% from 463,450 in 2010 to 492,925 in 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. However, New York added only 800 homes to Staten Island between 2021 and 2023, according to the latest housing survey.
To help ease the housing shortage, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams has ordered city officials to look for potential land for new housing developments — particularly on plots the city already owns. The city is already building homes in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood on city-owned land and doing the same for a group of townhouses in the Bronx.
New York City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development is funding the modular home project. Department officials have not released pricing details. Matt Rauschenbach, the department's spokesperson, told Homes.com that officials opted for the modular strategy in part because it allows "for faster construction times and less disruption to the surrounding community."
"These modular homes are a perfect example of how we can build a bit more housing in every neighborhood as we work toward a New York where everyone has a safe, affordable home," Rauschenbach said.
Perry echoed Rauschenbach's thoughts and said some people may think modular homes are akin to mobile homes, but they're not. Modular homes, structurally, are no different from new construction houses built on site, she said.
"It's a critical way to build [homes] in order to combat the affordable housing shortage," she said. "We see it as a way to bring homes to market much more quickly, and it's much less disruptive to the community they'll be in."