The FEMA trailer remains a post-hurricane staple. Is there a better way? – By Mike Smith (NOLA) / July 20 2021
Some envision pop-up factories to make modular houses, tiny houses; shipping containers, anyone?
LAKE CHARLES – The two houses next to each other in north Lake Charles, with their spacious porches framed by wood railings, don’t stand out much. They appear well-kept and inviting. The average person might never know they were built in a factory.
The three-bedroom modular structures were put in place in the years after Hurricane Rita struck Louisiana in 2005 as part of a program for post-disaster housing. They held up well in the 2020 hurricanes that devastated southwest Louisiana, and they could serve as an example as the region struggles to rebuild.
“We still have a lot of people [who] are homeless,” said Santana Hogan, 31, who lives in one of the houses with her husband and daughter and has relatives still displaced in Lafayette. “Our house came out just fine. We were blessed: no real damage.”
By contrast, the de facto temporary housing solution for those displaced by major disasters is the FEMA-supplied trailer, and the Lake Charles area is no exception in the wake of Hurricane Laura in August and Hurricane Delta six weeks later.
CONTINUE > https://www.theadvocate.com/lake_charles/article_e4f872bc-e67e-11eb-8952-bb6630a45b99.html
