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PAGE, Arizona — The Navajo Nation is pumping nearly $75 million into a manufactured housing firm leaders hope will ease the housing crunch on the reservation, create jobs and spur economic activity.
Per the arrangement with ZenniHome, a startup builder of manufactured housing, the Navajo Nation will pump $24 million into construction of a new, larger ZenniHome facility adjacent to its existing plant in Page, Arizona, near the Utah border and within Navajo Nation territory. That new plant will enable ZenniHome to bolster production, and, parallel to that, the Navajo Nation plans to spend another $50 million to buy around 200 of the prefabricated homes from the new facility.
Those 200 or so homes — much more durable and energy-efficient than mobile homes and typical residences, for some — will go to those most in need across the Navajo Nation. The reservation covers portions of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, where the three states meet.
"Instead of buying a mobile home, which is probably going to cost the same amount, let's get a home that's going to be more permanent," Buu Nygren, Navajo Nation president, said last Friday at a ceremony to announce the plans. "We're trying to bring the cost down and keep the quality high."
Beyond just helping address the dire housing need on the reservation, though, he and ZenniHome officials see an opportunity to boost the long-term economic prospects on the Navajo Nation. The plant relies on Navajo Nation residents for labor, creating jobs and production. Eventual export of homes to buyers around the United States, officials hope, will generate tax revenue for the reservation.
The new homes will be "built by Navajo, on Navajo, for Navajo," said Bob Worsley, founder and CEO at ZenniHome. He envisions perhaps 500 or more jobs at the old plant and the new one, once done. That, in turn, will lead to as many as 5,000 indirect jobs.
The $74 million comes in part from federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding and money funneled through the Navajo Nation's Community Housing and Infrastructure Department. The plans are part of Nygren's vision of creating 1,000 new homes on the Navajo Nation to address the need for more and better homes. The 200 or so homes acquired with the $50 million injection — about $250,000 each — will be given, free of charge, to people most in need.
"It's going to be the most efficient home you can build. It's not going to take a lot of energy. It's going to last forever and it's going to be affordable," Nygren said. "Imagine being the mecca of the most affordable high-quality homes, produced in America, and it's going to be happening here in the Navajo Nation."
For now, ZenniHome production is limited. The existing 60,000-square-foot facility on the grounds of the now-shuttered Navajo Generating Station coal-fired power plant can accommodate manufacture of perhaps three prefab homes a day, said David Monson, a ZenniHome spokesman. The new plant will measure around 300,000 square feet and cost $60 million to $75 million, and will accommodate production of up to 24 homes a day. The $24 million for the new plant coming from the Navajo Nation will complement additional financing from other investors, Monson said.
The housing units will be built at the Page, Arizona, plant and trucked in two halves to where they are to be connected and installed. They are boxy, steel structures with large windows and are meant to last. A Navajo architect, Tamarah Begay, has been aiding in the design of the structures to be placed on the Navajo Nation, to make sure they align with Navajo tastes, needs and sensibilities.
"It's time to go to an upper-quality, international building-code-quality home. It's built out of steel that will last two and three times longer than the housing that has been provided previously," said Worsley. ZenniHome has installed prototypes at a handful of locations in Arizona and is on the cusp of bolstering production with the Navajo Nation deal and a number of other contracts.
Aside from durability, Nygren noted the energy efficiency of the units, which will result in lower utility costs. Though, the initial homes the Navajo Nation is buying will be provided free, reservation officials are investigating potential means of offering financing so they can be sold to more residents. Nygren estimates a need of 35,000 to 50,000 homes across the Navajo Nation for those who lack housing and anyone living in deteriorating dwellings.
Beyond the Navajo Nation, Monson said ZenniHome reps have been in talks with Utah officials about helping ease the housing crunch along the Wasatch Front and other areas of the state. Worsley spoke Monday on the "Silicon Slopes Show," a Utah podcast, addressing his vision of streamlining home production at a reasonable price to keep pace with demand.
"We're trying to do something in a factory that will build homes like cars," Worsley said.
Correction: An earlier version incorrectly identified the name of the ZenniHome spokesman. It is David Monson, not Bob Monson.
