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WASHINGTON, DC-The Federal Emergency Management Agency will spend the next month negotiating final project details with the Gulf states participating in a pilot program to develop alternative housing solutions in the wake of hurricanes and other disasters. The government agency just announced the projects that had been selected under the program, called Alternative Housing Pilot Program, along with tentative award amounts that total $388 million.
These include Alabama's City of Bayou La Batre Project, which was awarded up to $15.6 million; Louisiana's Cypress Cottage Partners Project, whose grant could be as much as $74.5 million; Mississippi's Green Mobile Project, awarded up to $5.8 million; the Park Model and Mississippi Cottage Project, awarded up to $275.4 million; and Texas' Heston Group Project, which could receive some $16.4 million.
Florida submitted a proposal, but according to the spokesman, it did not meet the project's requirements. All together, FEMA's evaluation panel looked at a total of 29 different projects.
The program's main goal is to expand the range of housing FEMA provides to communities after disasters--which, at the moment, are largely trailers and mobile homes. These projects will experiment with alternative forms of housing that better suit local needs, the spokesman tells GlobeSt.com. Examples include modular homes that can be easily deconstructed, one story multifamily units with different layouts, modular housing built on an undercarriage and frame, and pre-fabricated panelized housing.
"Congress gave FEMA $400 million to come up with better housing alternatives than the trailers that are prevalent throughout the Gulf Coast," the spokesman says. "Each state is approaching the problem a little differently, depending on its own needs and population. Some, for instance, are focusing on temporary housing that is better integrated with the infrastructure." Other states, such as Louisiana, have to take into account the propensity for flooding. Now that the projects have been identified and approximate award amounts set aside, the next step is to nail down the details, the spokesman says.
"We must negotiate such issues as how much each unit will cost to build, how long it will take and other matters." These talks will begin at the start of next month. By the end of January, he says, FEMA and the states will be able to unveil a formal and definitive plan.
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
