Pete Gombert, cofounder of indieDwell, leads a tour outside a display home manufactured out of recycled shipping containers at the Governor's Housing Conference at the Hampton Roads Convention Center Nov. 20, 2019. The company plans to building a manufacturing facility in Newport News, creating 220 new jobs. (Jonathon Gruenke / Daily Press)

A manufacturer of steel modular housing will spend more than $2 million and create 220 jobs to build its first East Coast facility in Newport News, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday.

Idaho-based indieDwell, an affordable housing company, plans to construct a manufacturing facility and administrative offices near downtown Newport News.

“The affordable housing deficit in Virginia and across our country has deepened amid the pandemic and indieDwell’s innovative modular units are an important part of the solution,” Northam said in the announcement.

More than one out of five renter households in Virginia are extremely low income — meaning they make at or below the poverty line or 30% of their area’s median income, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition analysis of Census data. There’s a statewide shortage of almost 150,000 affordable and available rental homes for these home renters, according to the organization.

“The need for housing is a dire situation across the entire commonwealth,” said Chris Thompson, director of strategic housing for Virginia Housing, the state’s housing development authority.

Started as a public benefit corporation in 2018, indieDwell balances being a for-profit company with a mission of constructing affordable and sustainable modular housing. The company said it pays employees a living wage and participates in employee profit-sharing and ownership. It’s opened manufacturing plants in Caldwell, Idaho, and Pueblo, Colorado.

Executive Chairman Pete Gombert said indieDwell selected Newport News for several reasons.

“Our Newport News facility is strategically located in the Mid-Atlantic region with access to the interstate highway system, and, most importantly, a strong workforce,” Gombert said. He added the company wants to participate in workforce development efforts in the city’s Southeast Community.

Company leaders want to work with local and state developers to increase affordable housing stock, Thompson said. The business made several shipping container houses for the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority and Virginia Housing in 2019 and since then, Thompson said he continues to receive calls from developers interested in working with the company.

“This facility will serve the entire commonwealth and even areas outside of Virginia,” Thompson said.

Virginia Housing worked with the Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the city to secure the project. Virginia Housing awarded indieDwell a grant of up to $500,000 based on the number of jobs that will be created. The company is also able to access grant funding from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program.

When operational, the Newport News facility at 520 21st St. will produce at least 300 units a year, Virginia Housing board chairman Shekar Narasimhan said in the announcement. Thompson said the facility should be operational by the late spring or early summer of 2022.

Past indieDwell projects include apartments, single-family houses and multifamily homes like duplexes and fourplexes, according to its website.

Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@insidebiz.com