Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Thursday said there's an opportunity to make a "real dent" in the nation's affordable housing crisis using 3D printers and other modern technologies.
“A lot of times when people think of manufactured homes, they think about trailers — we’ve gone far beyond that,” Carson told Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria." "Now, manufactured housing looks better than site-built housing and is much more resilient.”
On Thursday, Carson will tour ICON, a company based in Austin, Texas that is using 3D printers to build homes in less than 48 hours for as little as $10,000 each. He said such technology can be a "tremendous advantage" in many situations, including in places like Alabama, where massive tornadoes demolished several homes.
“What we have to do is update what we do and start thinking out of the box,” Carson said, adding that the houses made with 3D printer technology “appear to be very nice homes.”
Carson said that a home he is touring was made for about $10,000, but added costs for plumbing, electrical and more could push the final cost to closer to $140,000 to $160,000, which is "still less than the average cost of a house."
Further, the structures can be built with materials that can resist a natural disaster, he said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.