PROVIDENCE — One by one, pieces of prefabricated homes, each sized to fit on a flatbed truck, were stacked on a Bowdoin Street lot last week.

The installation was captured overhead by drone video, which shows the modular units rapidly set into place on day one of this weeklong process.

The home that once stood here was destroyed by a fire that reduced it to rubble and took the life of a resident in 2018. Shortly before the disaster, the building had been condemned and was rife with extension cords and electrical issues that went unaddressed. Tenants who weathered the conditions were lured by cheap rents.

Now, the Olneyville lot will be home to eight affordable units for renters with modest incomes.

Helming the project is local nonprofit ONE Neighborhood Builders, which has opened numerous affordable units throughout Providence, including a small homes development a short walk away from the Bowdoin Street site.

Apartments will be offered to renters making 50% to 80% of the state’s area median income, with one-bedrooms starting at $800 and two-bedrooms starting at $975, depending on income. With the help of rental subsidies, two units will be reserved for people facing homelessness.

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ONB Executive Director Jennifer Hawkins said the idea, funded by $2.2 million in city and state funds, was a long time in the making.

“The idea of doing modular development actually started at the very beginning of the pandemic,” she said, noting that the organization was considering “the fastest way that we could construct homes.”

Modular homes allow builders to move at a quicker pace while spending less, making it an attractive option for affordable units.

“I think it works in certain instances,” Hawkins explained. “In this development it did because it was small. It was only eight apartments. So it all kind of depends on the siting of the project and the number of apartments you want to build. But I think it’s something that we need to embrace more.”

Brenda Clement, director of affordable housing advocacy group HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University, echoed Hawkins’ support for modular housing and said it should be more commonly used in the state as the housing crisis carries on.

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“Time is money, regardless of whether you’re a for-profit or nonprofit developer, so if you can reduce the number of days that it takes you to actually ... build a product or build a home, it ultimately impacts your cost,” Clement said.

Across several states — including Georgia, Alabama and Illinois — builders have recently turned to modular housing to alleviate housing crises.

Clement said Rhode Island should consider the same.

“It’s a good tool. We need to use it more. We need to try to figure out ways to ramp it up. We know that a lot of times modular homes can also be smaller starter homes or starter apartments,” she said, calling that segment of the market “the greatest need” in the state.