Pre-Disaster Planning for Permanent Housing Recovery

Pre-Disaster Planning for Permanent Housing Recovery

HUD continues to explore the housing challenges that communities face in a post-disaster environment, even as we examine new strategies to support state and local governments in their preparations and planning for disasters. A tangible result of this research is Pre-Disaster Planning for Permanent Housing Recovery, a four-volume set of tools and strategies derived from experience with recent major disasters (such as Hurricane Katrina) that underscored the importance of disaster preparedness at the local, state, and regional level. In the event of significant housing losses, factory construction of homes can speed reconstruction of housing by augmenting local construction capacity. This study includes an analysis of various temporary, interim, and permanent housing options that states and localities may wish to consider in their pre-disaster planning efforts.

The first volume provides an overview of permanent housing options, which include manufactured, modular, panelized, and site-built housing. The second volume summarizes the national disaster housing strategy and describes a straightforward planning approach for estimating potential losses and expediting reconstruction. The third volume presents the House Capacity Calculator, an easy-to-use application that estimates the time necessary for rebuilding based on local estimates of available housing construction capacity, augmented by off-site construction. As factory-built homes can help satisfy both near- and long-term demand for housing, the fourth volume describes basic plant design requirements for manufactured, modular, and panelized housing. If housing production capacity is not readily available, this volume also provides information to help governments understand how they might “partner” with housing manufacturers to both produce housing and provide jobs in the region affected by the disaster.