In a parking lot on the far side of Chattanooga’s Kordsa plant, four wooden skeletons stand waiting to be transformed into a three-bedroom home.
The modules are the first built by CNE Homes, a spin-off of nonprofit developer Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, set to formally launch Monday.
The plan: Build modules at an off-site construction facility that can be fitted together and installed as a lower-cost, single-family home in an effort to address Chattanooga’s housing crisis.
(READ MORE: Report: Tennessee housing not keeping up with jobs, new residents)
Jenny Hill, a longtime CNE board member and city council member who chairs the city’s affordable housing committee, said when she heard the idea, it “made so much sense — it just started ticking boxes.” Hill signed on as project manager.