FEMA Alternative Housing Pilot Program

An AP report entitled "FEMA Seeking Ideas on Housing" caught our eye this morning. According to the report:

WASHINGTON - The federal government is offering $400 million in grant money to Gulf Coast states for ideas on how to provide emergency and interim housing for hurricane victims.

Competition for the grant money is open to five coastal states - Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Any one state could get all the money or it could be split by all, said Gil Jamieson, deputy director of the Bush administration's Gulf Coast Recovery.

The AP report was a little confusing and short on details. ($400 million for ideas? Would a "suggestion box" be more cost effective?).

We contacted FEMA, and a spokesperson said the grants would be for implementation of state-run pilot programs to construct and deploy various types of interim housing and monitor the effectiveness of the different approaches over a period of two years. We were directed to FEMA program guidance document (PDF format) for more information.

According to the program guidance document, FEMA outlines a number of temporary housing problems exposed by Katrina:

Although FEMA’s traditional temporary housing options are sufficient to address the unmet housing needs of residents in most disasters, the catastrophic dimensions of Hurricane Katrina challenged the efficacy of these traditional methods, which are based on the statutory supposition that such assistance will generally not be required for more than 18 months. Some of those catastrophic dimensions are identified below:

1. A significant number of homes on private lots were completely destroyed.

2. Complete neighborhoods were destroyed.

3. Protracted community recovery timelines, with the likelihood that temporary housing may be required in some cases for extended periods.

4. A shortage of resources for reconstruction of homes, uncertainty with respect to community and neighborhood recovery, labor shortages and other factors that limit the
pace of recovery.

5. Community and individual resistance to the use of travel trailers for extended temporary housing concurrent with the interest of the design community, local governments and Congress to find better options for disaster victim use while pursuing permanent housing solutions.

Recognizing the extensive and complex housing challenges facing victims and communities as a result of Hurricane Katrina and acknowledging the limitations on FEMA’s ordinary statutory authority to provide non-temporary housing solutions, Congress appropriated $400 million to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to support alternative housing pilot programs.

The pilot program objectives address these concerns:

The objectives of the Alternative Housing pilot program are to:

1. Evaluate the efficacy of non-traditional short and intermediate-term housing alternatives for potential future use in a catastrophic disaster environment.

2. Identify, develop and evaluate alternatives to and alternative forms of FEMA Disaster
Housing to assist victims of the 2005 hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.

3. Consider the feasibility of these options as part of the standard package of housing assistance that could be made available by federal government agencies or state agencies for other disasters of various sizes, locations and impacts.

4. Assure that pilot projects address the needs of a variety of populations, such as persons with disabilities and the elderly, historically underserved populations as well as renters, homeowners, single-family dwelling occupants and multi-family dwelling occupants.

The idea of a grant "competition" is intended to promote:

• Innovation and creativity.


• Alternatives that can be produced, transported, and installed in a timely manner, and in quantities appropriate to meet the projected needs of a catastrophic disaster situation.


• Alternatives that are adaptable to a variety of site conditions with minimal requirements for site preparation.


• Housing solutions that will facilitate sustainable and permanent affordable housing.

Proposals will be evaluated for selection on a number of criteria:

1. The manner and extent to which the alternative housing solution improves upon the conditions characteristic of existing temporary housing and improves long-term recovery.

2. The extent to which the option can provide ready for occupancy (RFO) housing (obtained, transported, installed, repaired, constructed, etc.) within time frames and in quantities sufficient to meet disaster related needs under a range of scenarios, including sudden onset catastrophic disasters.

3. Life Cycle cost, including the cost to acquire, transport, install/construct/repair, and maintain during the period it is occupied by disaster victims.

4. The capacity of the proposed alternative approach to be utilized in and adapt to a variety of site conditions and locations.

5. The extent to which local officials, local neighborhood associations and other community organizations are part of or support the pilot program in the community in which it will occur.

Refer to the guidance document for more interesting details regarding each of these criteria.

Winning proposals will be monitored and evaluated for two years by FEMA, HUD, and other government officials:

The two-phase approach to the evaluation is as follows: the first evaluation will include factors such as cost, building code compliance, speed of construction, consumer perceptions, community impacts, and criteria for selection. The first HUD evaluation effort will be completed after the grant period of performance ends. The second-phase of the evaluation focuses on the longer term performance of the housing provided under this effort. This will address longer-term costs (energy and maintenance), durability, consumer perceptions, and impact on long-term recovery of communities and individuals that received housing through this pilot. FEMA’s traditional temporary housing solutions will also be evaluated with the same methodology to allow objective comparison of options.

At least two companies have announced solutions for consideration by participating state programs. NOLA Homebuilder offers the "NOLA Bungalow", and EliteNet Group has the "EliteSpace Superstructure".

FEMA is admitting they don't have all the answers and that what they have in place isn't the best plan to deal with a disaster on the scale of Katrina. The Alternative Housing Pilot Program sounds like one of those "market driven solutions" we keep hearing about, and there's probably more to the story regarding where the idea originated and who lobbied for it.

Regardless, while one might expect FEMA to be the experts on interim housing following a disaster, perhaps this program will turn out to be an innovative approach that identifies new ways of looking at the problem, and maybe even result in some better solutions going forward.