When Shelter Becomes Home

Long term housing solutions for disaster victims
are on the horizon.

Up to 4,000 families living in Mississippi's Jackson, Harrison, and Hancock counties will be the first to benefit from one of the many changes to the science of emergency management prompted by Hurricane Katrina. In June 2007, displaced families in these Gulf Coast communities began moving into new alternative temporary housing that is safer, more aesthetically pleasing, more livable, more environmentally friendly and, in some cases, more permanent than the travel trailers that FEMA traditionally deploys to disaster sites.

The Alternative Housing Pilot Program, a joint effort of FEMA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the state of Mississippi, will study how the families function in the homes, as well as the cost efficiencies achieved in their manufacture and delivery. The results will help determine how FEMA shelters victims of severe disasters in the decades ahead.

Beyond Survival Basics

Finding temporary living quarters is obviously one of the first concerns for both victims and emergency personnel. "To give quick relief," says PBS&J Senior Project Manager Johnny G. DeLoach, "FEMA typically brings rapidly built travel trailers to the site. These provide the survival basics: air conditioning, water, a roof, four walls. They're usually single-wide units, offer minimal living amenities, and have a short lifespan, maybe two years. But what about cases like Mississippi, where longer-term living needs must be met? Disaster victims need better solutions for the long haul."

DeLoach explains that after a disaster, property owners who lose homes have units quickly delivered to their home sites. Non-homeowners are relocated to large, FEMA-built trailer parks that focus more on survival than a standard of living. At the end of the typical 18-month program, the units are removed, with the expectation that their inhabitants have planned for the resumption of their normal lifestyle. This is often a challenge for those living in widely ravaged areas such as Mississippi, or on low or fixed incomes.

Emergency temporary housing, moreover, poses another challenge: Many communities don't allow long-term installation of travel trailers or mobile houses without proper permitting.

Congressional Support

"This problem has been talked about for some time," DeLoach continues, "but it was Katrina that compelled officials to act. This wasn't the typical tornado that blows a few homes away, and FEMA wasn't positioned to support 140,000 travel trailers over a multiple-year period. People were left homeless and without economic choices to rebuild their lives. FEMA had to change the dynamics of how it delivered its program." DeLoach notes that there are still 14,000 "Katrina families" in emergency temporary housing in the three coastal counties alone.

In late 2006, with the support of Governor Haley Barbour, Congress approved approximately $281 million for Mississippi to investigate better ways of housing post-storm disaster victims, an issue that has also been a high priority for HUD. As a result, the state is carrying out a pilot program that includes the manufacture, delivery, installation, and maintenance of three types of housing units. In a meeting with DeLoach and William G. Fry, PBS&J's principal in charge, the governor emphasized the importance of alternative housing for the victims of Katrina.

Three Prototypes

The goal, according to Steven N. Glenn, manager of PBS&J's Emergency Management Division, is to provide housing that integrates into local government ordinances and offers disaster victims more options. The state collaborated with an expert team of architects and organizations to create the 400-square-foot Park Model, incorporating a front porch and comfortable living area, and the Mississippi Cottage, a two- or three-bedroom unit up to 840 square feet in size with larger living and storage areas. Both models are durable, wind resistant up to 150 mph, and are built with a normal frame wall construction. Like traditionally built homes, they can be added on to over time. They also feature hurricane straps and anchor attachments for extra protection. A third model, the environmentally friendly Green Mobile, is still under design.

Glenn says that all models are intended to be reusable. "The units are available to people for an average of 18 months, although some programs can extend to two years. At the end of the program, they can be sold to inhabitants, or the state will take them back."

Trailers Remain in Service

These alternative houses will not replace FEMA's travel trailers or mobile homes. "Travel trailers can be placed on the ground very quickly, and they're very serviceable in most situations. However, when we have an event like Katrina, or the devastating tornadoes in Greensburg, Kansas, where the entire community was wiped out and 1,100 families are living in travel trailers or with relatives for the long term, then we need an alternative solution. That's when FEMA might deploy the new types of housing."

During the alternative housing pilot program contract, which runs through March 2008, PBS&J will be evaluating the performance of both the houses and the program: how much it costs to build, haul, and install the units; the efficiency of the process; the durability of the units; and of course, how much their residents like them. And when the final data is gathered, "the results of this project will help shape the future of disaster housing solutions for FEMA," concludes Glenn.