Following a natural disaster or emergency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can manage the installation of temporary housing for FEMA as part of the federal government’s unified national response.
When an event has left large numbers of existing homes uninhabitable, FEMA can assign a temporary housing mission to the Corps of Engineers.
Temporary housing missions can be wide ranging and may include technical assistance to FEMA and/or their contractors, placing pre-fabricated units on private property or existing mobile home parks, as well as design and construction of new group mobile home sites, to include the necessary infrastructure and placement of units.
Key Points on the Temporary Housing Mission - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has six Temporary Housing Planning and Response Teams (PRTs) at districts around the country that are ready to deploy in response to natural or manmade disasters. These teams are located in New York, Alabama, West Virginia, Florida, California and Minnesota.
- Following Hurricane Ike, the Corps managed the installation of more than 3,600 temporary housing units for people in impacted areas along the Gulf Coast of Texas, including three temporary housing community sites built from scratch.
- Stoves, outlets, faucets, any moving parts like doors and drawers, smoke detectors, and fire extinguishers, are just some of the many items found in temporary housing units that have to be examined before a home can be signed off as being complete and ready for residents.
- Environmental protection is a major priority when locating temporary housing units as environmental surveys are conducted for each site where temporary housing is under consideration.
- The Corps’ Housing PRTs also may be tasked to provide trailers for temporary government facilities such as police stations, fire stations and school classrooms under a separate mission.