As one of the leading affordable housing developers in the country, Mercy Housing is continually seeking ways to reduce the time and cost it takes to build affordable housing. After researching the potential benefits of various new technologies and approaches, MHC decides to focus initially on modular housing. Instead of building each story only after the one below it is finished, modular buildings are built all at once, in many pieces at an off-site warehouse. These pieces or modules are shipped to the site and quickly stacked up. Each module already has electricity, plumbing, drywall and cabinetry already installed, so once they are all connected, the contractor puts on a ‘skin’ and roof, then residents move in.

By the year 2021, Mercy Housing will have completed two projects using modular construction, creating over 400 homes for formerly homeless people in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco. In both cases, the modular construction model was chosen to expedite completion of the buildings, getting people off the streets more quickly.

Mercy Housing and Proyecto created the Modular Housing Manual, a tool for project managers.

7^th and Mission will have 258 homes for formerly homeless individuals. It will be built in partnership with Episcopal Community Services (ECS). San Francisco Homeless Outreach (SF HOT) will lease out the main floor of the building. The modular construction model shaves six months off the construction timeline, so it can be completed in 2021.

833 Bryant will have 146 micro studios for people who are currently experiencing homelessness. Tipping Point and the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund chose Mercy Housing to build this community using the fastest, most innovative building technology. No public funds will be used in this audacious plan to make homes for the homeless.