On May 20, 2026, MARC Regional Housing Program Manager Hannah Mitchell opened the second Housing Policy Innovation Series event with a guiding question for the audience and presenters.
“How can local policies and processes better support prefab and modular construction?”
Community leaders from across the region answered by showing how they’ve used prefab and modular housing in their own work.
Two of the presenters, Michael Gibson and Doug Cowan, focused on prefab building materials in housing construction.
Gibson, professor of architecture at Kansas State University, described what is needed to approach prefab through housing policy—high-performing, affordable, systems-based building. He then shared how he applies systems-based building through the Net Positive Studio, a service-learning course he leads focused on researching, designing and building affordable, net zero housing prototypes with non-profit partners.
The Net Positive Studio uses prefab microfactories, prefab panels and prefab modules in their residential construction, resulting in the construction of more than 30 homes and an additional 12 prototype homes with nine partners.
Later this summer, Gibson is publishing a Better Housing Toolkit, focusing on best practices and opportunities for innovation in neighborhood planning and construction.
Cowan, president and CEO of Community Services League (CSL), talked about how CSL's Affordable Homes initiative engages high school construction trade students from the Independence School District in constructing single family homes from the ground up, providing the students with real-life construction skills and the opportunity to have a positive, direct impact on their communities.
The homes are built using a newer technology called structurally insulated panels, a prefabricated construction material that provides more energy-efficient insulation than those commonly found in stick-built homes, which can lower the energy a home needs to heat and cool. CSL was also able to reduce the upfront cost to the homeowner by offsetting the final purchase price of the home using grant and donation funds, lowering the selling price to just $171,000 instead of $190,000.
They’ve already built two single-family homes and have one more planned for this fall as well as a nine-unit tiny home community that will also use the prefab panels.
