Can election promises help young Londoners one day afford their own home?

As dealers of modular and prefabricated homes eye a Liberal promise to double the rate of residential construction over the next decade, a new report paints a grim picture of current homeownership realities.

Home prices have doubled relative to family incomes since 2005 and London is considered "deeply unaffordable" for middle-class families, according to numbers crunched by economist Mike Moffat at the Missing Middle Initiative.

"Young people are out of options when it comes to housing in our province," said Scott Andison, head of the Ontario Home Builders' Association, which commissioned Moffatt's April report.

Enter modular homes, made of prefabricated pieces that go together like building blocks and can be put together either in a factory or on someone's property. They're being touted as one relief measure for the country's housing crisis, part of a Liberal plan to build 500,000 houses per year over the next 10 years.

"I'm 30 years old. I think this is part of the solution to making things more affordable," said Mac Copp, the division manager of the Copp's Back Yard Homes division, which has six different modular-home models to choose from, two of which are on display at its Fanshawe Park Road location.

The Conservatives have said they will get rid of the sales tax on new homes and will sell off 6,000 federal buildings to allow new-builds, as well as incentivize cities to speed up permits, which the Liberals also want to do.

The NDP has promised to offer first-time homebuyers access to low-interest loans and use federal land to build more than 100,000 rent-controlled homes in the next decade.

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"The whole idea of this is gentle densification. It's not the silver bullet to fix housing in everything else, but it's one of the pieces. It takes a lot of different things happening at the same time to help the problem."

Copp's modular homes take about three or four months to construct in a person's backyard. The company's most popular model is 720 square feet and has two bedrooms, vaulted ceilings and a full-sized kitchen, laundry nook and deck. It starts at $200,000.

The company is having an open house at its west-end location this Saturday, where people can tour two of the most popular models.

SWO Contracting also has a three-month turnaround time, but the prefabricated homes owner Mike Moldown and his team install are made in a factory, not on site.

"From the time you pick all your colours, make all your choices, once we get zoning approval, we look at your property size and make sure all that's okay, that's 90 days. We have all that ready to go, and we pull up on a trailer, crane it up, put it on your property and hook it up, and in a day, you're living in it," Moldown said.

The factory-built home, assembled much like a car on a line, is approved by the CSA A277 standard, meaning building codes and regulatory standards are met when the home is completed, he added.

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"For multi-generation living where you're downsizing, or if your kids are moving home and you need somewhere to put them, or in rural areas where there's lots of land, this really works," Moldown said. The framing takes two days and then you're ready to set the unit on it, so we're not in somebody's yard very long."

Pricing for his units also start at $200,000, and sizes range from 504 square feet to just over 705 square feet. "There are some half-acre lots in Westmount that'll easily take one or two of these units and if you're in a rural area, it's a no-brainer," he said.

Trying to help alleviate the housing crisis, the City of London has relaxed the rules for additional dwelling units, including detached modular homes. There's also financial assistance and forgivable loans for property owners who need help offsetting the costs of creating more residential units.

The housing situation is unsustainable, particularly in places where people spend more than double their monthly income on housing, said Kirstin Jensen, the vice president of policy and advocacy for the Ontario Home Builders.

"We need real solutions for Ontarians to be able to afford homes again, especially young people."

London's chief building official supports the use of modular homes to increase housing in the city.

"Modular and prefabricated construction methods offer a promising avenue to enhance housing diversity and affordability within our community," said Alan Shaw, the director of building services, in an email.

"To facilitate this, we've initiated a drawing pre-approval pilot program for modular or prefabricated detached Additional Residential Units. This initiative aims to streamline the building permit process, ensuring that these units meet Ontario Building Code requirements and can be integrated efficiently into our neighbourhoods."

Since council approved new financing incentives for additional residential units in February, they've had eight applications for two different loan programs. There are also additional incentives up to $45,000 for affordable units and Indigenous homeowners and organizations.