After Tropical Storm Irene, there has been a lot of talk about how Vermont communities can take the lessons learned in the aftermath and plan better for future possible disasters. Similarly, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the federal government was prompted to help state and local governments as they prepared and planned for disasters. As a result, US Housing and Urban Development, in cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Disaster Housing Task Force created four short pieces on this topic.
1. The first volume provides an overview of the permanent housing options, which include manufactured, modular, panelized, and site-built housing.
2. The second volume provides a summary of the national disaster housing strategy, and describes a straightforward planning approach for estimating potential losses and expediting rebuilding.
3. The third volume presents the House Capacity Calculator, which is an easy-to-use application that estimates required rebuilding time based on available house production capacity.
4. The fourth volume describes the basic plant design requirements for manufactured, modular, and panelized housing.
All of these can be found on HUD’s website.