The following text will briefly discuss FEMA camps, conditions, and how it relates to its transient nature as a form of housing.
Travel trailors can be used in emergency situations as temporary housing. They are not meant to be perminant, but rather a means to house those in need while their living situation is repaired. Another option in emergency situations is manufactured housing. The problem with this is that they have a tendency to turn into perminant housing. FEMA wants to help those in need get eventual perminant housing, however, the transitional phase between disaster and new placement needs to be something temprorary that is not so comfortable that residence will want to stay.
Travel trailors can be used in emergency situations as temporary housing. They are not meant to be perminant, but rather a means to house those in need while their living situation is repaired. Another option in emergency situations is manufactured housing. The problem with this is that they have a tendency to turn into perminant housing. FEMA wants to help those in need get eventual perminant housing, however, the transitional phase between disaster and new placement needs to be something temprorary that is not so comfortable that residence will want to stay.
Traditional Manufactured Housing
FEMA traditionally uses mobile homes and travel trailers to meet the needs of disaster victims when needs cannot be met through home repair or available rental units. Mobile homes are larger and are generally used to house applicants who are unable to obtain rental housing in the area. Additionally, they are intended to meet longer-term disaster housing needs. Travel trailers are smaller units that are usually parked adjacent to the home so that the individual or family can continue repairs while the home itself cannot be occupied and not have to pay for the space to park the trailer. The units are also placed on existing commercial lots and in parks created by FEMA for that purpose. The travel trailers “have been used principally for shorter-term housing needs” following disaster events. Travel trailers, unlike mobile homes, are not classified as housing or dwellings. Instead they are considered transportation since they are often moved from site to site for recreational purposes. HUD has not established standards for trailers as it has for mobile homes which are considered housing and are “designed to be used as a dwelling.”49 The distinction between housing and transportation also becomes important when considering FEMA’s own regulations which do not permit the placement of mobile homes within flood plains as temporary housing unless they are elevated above the base flood elevation.50 This allows trailers to be placed in flood plain areas on a temporary basis, particularly in group sites, while mobile homes may not. While manufactured housing is a form of temporary housing, it sometimes gains permanence for the households occupying these units. This is based on a part of the Stafford Act which provides that a unit “may be sold directly to the individual or household who is occupying the unit if the individual or household lacks permanent housing.”51 This is usually the case for applicants without other housing options.52
The Katrina Experience
Congressional testimony by a FEMA official noted that approximately 80% of manufactured dwellings were situated on private lots on the Gulf Coast.53 This points to the large number of homes with major damage following the hurricanes of 2005. During the post-Katrina recovery phase, these trailers and mobile homes were the center of controversy for several reasons. While manufactured housing is occasionally used, FEMA considers it the last housing option to be employed, and then only if home repairs are impractical or if here are no available units for rental assistance. But a catastrophic disaster such as Katrina removes many options. It not only spreads disaster victims across the nation but also makes home repair work difficult and slow at best. Additionally, a disaster of this magnitude wipes out most available rental housing in the affected area. With all of those factors considered, manufactured housing became the primary means of providing temporary housing in Gulf Coast communities for an extended period of time. This form of housing also drew the media’s attention due to a large number of units awaiting occupancy that have been stored in Hope, Arkansas.54 Some of the reasons for the purchase of the excess units and the slow pace of their issuance are discussed in the Issues section below.
Information Sources
1. Congressional Research Services. "FEMA Disaster Housing and Hurricane Katrina: Overview, Analysis, and Congressional Issues". CRS Report for Congres. 2008
http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/08July/RL34087.pdf (Accessed January 7, 2010)
No comments:
Post a Comment