The Haitian situation has been on my mind, as it is on so many these days. Since I first heard about it, the following thoughts occurred to me, and it would be good for Industry members to consider and respond to these:
1. Tents – like those being sent in ShelterBoxes – are ok for temporary quarters, but the Haitians will need more substantial shelter going forward very soon.
2. The American factory built housing industry is uniquely positioned to create and build the needed more substantial housing units. The benefits to the Haitians is obvious. The potential Industry benefits to this concept are many.
3. Some time back, Automated Builder Magazine reported on emergency shelter housing units that could be assembled on site in a matter of hours. Very low cost, a few thousand dollars per unit is what I recall. Depending on the skill sets available and the working conditions on the ground in Haiti, American factory builders could either panelize such emergency housing units for site assembly in Haiti, or could pre-fab these emergency shelter units to be shipped whole and placed on location for use.
4. MHI and MHARR could refine and then lead the charge for such an effort, knowing that the effort that would put thousands of Americans skilled in factory assembly back to work. After all, President Obama stood in Elkhart and promised American jobs there…what an opportunity to have him deliver on that promise of jobs and get people properly sheltered in Haiti too. Properly shared and implemented, American know how and our can-do spirit could get global publicity – and part of that focus would be on American factory building!
5. Properly handling the publicity side, this could and should be clearly distinctive from modular and manufactured homes, but the ‘credit’ for the solution could go to the American factory built housing Industry. In other words, it could lead to not just dollars and jobs, but good PR. I can imagine an industry leader standing up in front of the media’s cameras and microphones, proposing this solution and saying something like this:
“American factory built housing is uniquely able to build high-end multi-level luxury homes, incredible quality and appealing homes for millions in the middle class and our industry is able to rapidly provide disaster relief for situations such as Haiti’s. If the emergency assistance agencies handle this properly – we could shelter and save countless lives during the recovery phase – while providing much needed jobs for Americans right now.”
…all while showing great photos or videos OF the high end mods, the quality HUD Code homes and the disaster relief units that could be provided for Haiti.
6. Governmental, international and private relief agencies such as the CRS or Red Cross could pay for them. The feedback of the Red Cross and others in implementation of this concept would be valuable.
7. As an important footnote, if it the transport issue is doable, those FEMA units in storage could be shipped to Haiti. Instead of hurting the industry by dumping them back on the U.S. market through some auction, let those FEMA units be used as it was intended – for disaster relief. I did a test post on Linkedin the other day, and it immediately got an “Amen” from another industry member. One source suggested to me that some military aircraft and shipping is capable of moving those FEMA units to Haiti.
I’d like to invite Industry Leaders or Industry Members to sound off on this urgent topic, either by posting their comments below, or if you want to develop your own solution proposal, you can send me a post for our new Industry Voices blog at latonyk@gmail.com. We’ll provide you with the space on our new Industry Voices blog if you provide the writing.
There are doubtlessly details that would need to be worked out on this subject. The caveat that Ross Kinsler of Wisconsin Housing Alliance fame made during the Katrina disaster certainly applies here: we’d want the construction of these emergency shelter units to be clearly identified as NOT being HUD Code Manufactured Homes. We would want the Publicity of this effort to be rapidly and well thought out on the front end, and let’s get some Industry leader(s) to lead the charge, support them, and encourage the press conferences to let the industry both aid in this fashion and to get some much needed PR for our efforts.
Tent’s are okay for a few days, but the relief effort for Haitians need a stronger and more secure structure. Let’s put our American modular and manufactured housing factories back to work building emergency shelters for this effort, and if possible let’s ship FEMA units overseas where they can do some good and prevent another issue for our industry. ##
