A Report on Accelerating Off-Site Construction Published by International Code Council

In response to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) recently released Action Plan for Accelerating U.S. Offsite Construction for Housing, the International Code Council (ICC) published a report titled Accelerating Off‑Site Construction Through Collaboration. The report explains how ICC addresses the needs outlined in the Action Plan. 

Off-Site Construction as a Solution  

As the nation faces a growing shortage of affordable, available housing, off‑site construction is gaining renewed attention as a solution. The idea isn’t new, as building homes in factories and assembling them on‑site has been around for decades, but scaling it to meet today’s housing needs requires fresh coordination across policy, industry practice, research and public understanding. 

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, HUD launched Operation Breakthrough, an ambitious effort to modernize homebuilding through industrialized methods. Today, HUD is returning to that mission with its Offsite Construction Research Roadmap and its new Action Plan for Accelerating U.S. Offsite Construction for Housing. 

ICC has continued to contribute and engage with HUD throughout this journey. Through its standards and guidelines and its subsidiaries, ICC‑NTA and ICC Evaluation Service, ICC has helped shape the regulatory and technical foundation needed to bring off‑site construction to scale. 

HUD’s Research Roadmap highlights two priority areas where ICC has already shown leadership: 

• Regulatory frameworks that make off‑site construction easier to approve and inspect 

• System performance standards that ensure safety, quality and consistency 

These same strengths support ICC’s response to HUD’s Action Plan, demonstrating how ICC’s ongoing work supports the nation’s push toward faster, safer and more affordable housing delivery. 

In short, ICC’s efforts—past and present—are helping create the conditions needed for off‑site construction to grow from a promising idea into a practical, scalable housing solution. As HUD advances its Action Plan, ICC’s standards, inspection pathways and technical expertise will continue to play a central role in making off‑site construction a reliable tool for addressing America’s housing challenges. 

Read the full report here. Learn more about off-site construction here.