A report from Homeland Security Department (HSD) office of inspector general (OIG) says a 2006 congressionally mandated program to quickly develop housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina was doomed from the start. FierceHomelandSecurity tells MHProNews.com the $400 million Alternative Housing Pilot Program was to design an alternative to typical Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) houses within 35 days. The OIG says experimental and innovative projects take time, and homeless hurricane victims were waiting for housing. Of the five programs undertaken in four states, one Texas project designed to produce 250 homes from panels imported from Italy resulted in only six homes being completed at a cost of $5.5 million. The OIG says the contractor, Heston Group USA, could not complete the homes in a timely manner. The remaining panels, some damaged, sit in a Houston warehouse leased by the contractor. Even the programs considered successful experienced cost overruns and delays due to transportation problems. The report concludes, “More families could have been housed faster and at a lower cost if the program had been conducted as a housing program by agencies with a mandate for, and experience in, creating permanent housing.”

(Photo credit: DHS/OIG FEMA Modular Pilot Program)