WASHINGTON - The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has expanded its effort to identify and evaluate alternatives to FEMA trailers and mobile homes for housing people in the aftermath of a disaster. The project is being conducted by the Joint Housing Solutions Group (JHSG), which was established in June 2006 by the agency's Disaster Assistance Directorate.
"Among the lessons learned from Katrina and Rita are those that taught us that we need to be better prepared to house large numbers of individuals and families safely, securely and quickly after catastrophic disasters like the 2005 hurricanes," said Carlos J. Castillo, assistant administrator for disaster assistance. "Our goal is to identify and be able to deliver such housing in the future."
The members of the JHSG include housing specialists from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); building science experts from the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS); and specialists from FEMA housing, policy, Individual Assistance, Long-Term Recovery and Public Assistance divisions. The group is exploring the latest in factory-built contemporary housing, modular homes based on universal design, housing built from recyclable materials, and innovative work by schools of architecture and design at universities across the country.
Field teams composed of FEMA, HUD, NIBS and other specialists have been conducting site visits to evaluate models and prototypes for further consideration. To date, they have evaluated 40 different types of units located across the country. They have looked at modular 'folding houses' that could transition to permanent housing, a steel modular modernist-design unit already in use in some areas, and housing units that basically are converted shipping containers. Costs range from $15,000 to $150,000, with most falling between $20,000 and $50,000.
The group also will evaluate Gulf Coast-type cottages with front porches and other types of housing developed through the Alternative Housing Pilot Program (AHPP) for Katrina/Rita households. The inclusion of the AHPP units in the JHSG evaluation process will provide a unique opportunity to assess occupied homes under actual living conditions.
An important component of the overall initiative is the development and documentation of a methodology to eliminate or mitigate potential indoor air quality hazards in FEMA-provided temporary housing units. Air quality controls proposed involve eliminating potentially harmful air pollutant sources through exclusive use of non- and low-emitting building and furnishing materials and products; utilizing filtration and ventilation measures during and/or prior to occupancy; and writing into all procurement and contract documents directives, specifications and required design standards; building testing methods, and penalties clauses.
The group developed a comprehensive Housing Assessment Tool (HAT) that is designed to collect information on housing products and help FEMA determine whether proposed options are suitable for disaster housing needs. The assessment tool contains 175 questions about the major aspects of the housing products proposed by potential providers around four criteria to be used to analyze alternative housing units:
Range of Use: How adaptable it would be under various environmental, geographic, and cultural or conditions required by local government.
Livability: How well the units can accommodate or help provide for a household's daily living essentials as well as their physical and emotional needs.
Timeliness: How fast units could be made ready for occupancy.
Cost: How cost-effective the unit would be in absolute terms and in terms of its value relative to other housing options.
Additional requirements established as critical in meeting FEMA immediate housing needs and priorities, include:
Footprint: Units should be small, capable of HUD certification and suitable for FEMA group sites or privately owned sites.
UFAS: A sufficient number of units must be available for occupants who are disabled and the units must comply with Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards.
Indoor Air Quality: Utilizing a holistic approach to indoor air quality control measures by eliminating or limiting use of products that contain pollutants, enclosing potentially harmful air pollutant sources in impermeable barriers, using filtration/ventilation to dilute or decrease airborne pollutants, requiring rigorous quality control measures during the manufacturing process, specifying control methods through contracting and procurement processes and other methods of control.
Production Lead-time: Providers must be able to deliver a certain number immediately or within a short time frame to meet FEMA's operations and performance requirements.
Next steps recommended by the group include actual field testing and the development of specifications for alternative housing units so that prospective providers would have a set of criteria to use when designing, developing and producing product lines. The group also recommended that Phase II development of the Housing Assessment Tool involve a local conditions module that considers community acceptance, sociological factors and optimal use strategies.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.