Pre-Disaster Planning for Permanent Housing Recovery

Abstract

Since Hurricane Katrina, many lessons have been learned about the importance of disaster preparedness planning and the impact of such planning on permanent residential housing recovery. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development continues to explore new strategies for supporting state and local governments as they prepare and plan for disasters. In cooperation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Disaster Housing Task Force, we continue to address the temporary, interim, and permanent housing challenges that communities confront in a post-disaster environment.The content is presented in four short volumes. The first volume provides an overview of the permanent housing options, which include manufactured, modular, panelized, and site-built housing. 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. 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. The fourth volume describes the basic plant design requirements for manufactured, modular, and panelized housing.