SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mutual Housing, a leading developer and manager of affordable housing properties in Northern California, announced its partnership with AO, Guerdon, and Brown Construction to deliver five zero net energy modular housing communities through 2028. With projects located in Sacramento, Solano, Yuba, and San Joaquin counties, this first-of-its-kind partnership will deliver over 580 units of affordable housing, bringing significant relief to Northern California’s housing shortage.
Mutual Housing recently broke ground on its first pilot factory-built project, Fairview Terrace, in April 2026, marking a critical milestone in advancing modular construction within its portfolio. Building on this momentum—and strengthened by AO’s deep modular expertise—the alliance is now positioned to move beyond a single demonstration project toward a coordinated pipeline of developments. The next project, San Juan Two, is currently seeking tax credits and aims to break ground before the end of the year, supported by a $1 million investment from Health Net. Across current and planned developments, the team is advancing 170 units in Sacramento, 124 in Olivehurst, 206 in Vacaville, and 89 in Elk Grove, serving seniors, families, veterans, and individuals transitioning out of homelessness at 30–70% AMI. With Mutual Housing’s pilot project and new unified approach, the partnership is on track to deliver more than 660 affordable homes by 2028.
Together, the alliance is providing the groundwork for a replicable, scalable model of modular affordable housing, achieving speed to market up to 40% faster than conventional construction methods, and continuing to expand access to high-quality, sustainable homes across Northern California.
“We are proud to form an alliance with each of these expert partners, and together we can achieve a scale that will move the needle on the cost of production,” said Craig Adelman, CEO of Mutual Housing, the developer of the communities.
Mutual Housing selected AO to serve as the architect of record on each of their next five projects. The full-service architecture firm has over a decade of modular design expertise and currently has thousands of modular housing units completed, with another 9,500+ in the pipeline. Notable modular projects AO recently completed include El Camino Real in San Bruno and The Parkline in Los Angeles.
“Modular prefabrication requires extreme precision and collaboration,” said Nickolos Gomez, Principal at AO. “This alliance enables us to deliver not just one test project, but a series of affordable housing developments that fully realize the efficiencies of modular construction.”
Partnering with Guerdon as the off-site factory manufacturer for the developments provides extensive experience and a proven track record in large-scale, commercial modular housing. As a leading modular manufacturer in the Western United States, Guerdon’s portfolio of more than 225 successfully completed projects demonstrates deep expertise across a wide range of unit types, sizes, and configurations.
“This unified partnership represents a high-impact approach to scaling housing effectively,” said Tommy Rakes, CEO of Guerdon. “We are excited to work with each of the partners and play a meaningful role in easing the housing crisis in Northern California.”
Brown Construction, Inc. will be the general contractor for each of the projects. With 62 years of experience building affordable housing in the Greater Sacramento area, the locally-owned contractor is poised to manage the ground-up construction of these highly-coordinated projects.
Touting the strengths of this unique construction approach, Brown Construction Vice President Darrin Henry explains, “These projects will be constructed using primarily factory-built modular living units, an innovative construction method which increases safety on jobsites, creates less disruption to the surrounding neighborhood, increases production quality, reduces material waste, and accelerates the construction schedule, bringing these homes to market sooner than traditional construction methods.” He adds, “Mutual Housing has assembled the right team for these jobs.”
About Mutual Housing California
Mutual Housing California is a Sacramento-based nonprofit that develops, manages, and supports sustainable affordable housing where residents are partners in building strong, equitable communities. Founded in 1988, Mutual Housing serves more than 3,900 residents across the Sacramento region, with new expansion into San Joaquin, Solano, and Yuba counties.
About AO
AO is a relationship-focused, design-driven architectural, landscape, interior, and planning services firm helping clients create places where people and businesses flourish. In its 52nd year, the firm boasts wide-ranging expertise across multifamily, retail, hospitality, mixed-use, science and technology, data centers, restaurant, healthcare, office, industrial, parking, landscape, interiors, and global design, modular, commercial, and public utilities. AO is known for its ardent collaboration with developers and owners and deep expertise across various building types. AO operates from studios in Orange, San Diego, Oakland, and Sunnyvale, CA, New York, NY, Atlanta, GA, and Orlando, FL, where it serves clients across the Americas, Asia, and beyond. Visit aoarchitects.com to learn more.
About Guerdon
Guerdon is the leading manufacturer of large-scale, commercial modular construction in the Western United States, delivering factory-built affordable, market-rate multifamily, and supportive housing projects. Operating from its Boise, Idaho manufacturing facility, Guerdon has completed more than 225 projects across the western states, with a significant concentration in California. With deep engineering expertise and a collaborative, design-assist approach, Guerdon helps development teams reduce timelines, improve predictability, and deliver housing efficiently at scale. www.Guerdon.com
About Brown Construction
Brown Construction, Inc. is a full-service general contractor based in the Sacramento region since 1964. Brown is built on partnership, communication, and integrity—values that are evident in all that we do. Our portfolio includes large urban multifamily and mixed-use developments, student housing, senior housing, university and civic projects, commercial office campuses, as well as retail and industrial developments.
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