FEMA is replacing traditional trailers, which quickly deteriorate and are unfit for long-term habitation, with modular, fire-resistant homes designed to last.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is using a new type of modular housing to offer ‘dignified’ shelter to wildfire survivors in Maui, reports James S. Russell for The New York Times.
In the past, FEMA provided travel trailers that quickly deteriorated, leaving people to live in poor or dangerous conditions after a few weeks. To address this, one company is building more durable, modular houses complete with finished bathrooms and kitchens. “The Lahaina houses, a model known as Conexus, were produced by Liv-Connected, a manufactured housing spinoff of the New York architecture firm DXA Studio, which has been innovating emergency housing with manufacturing techniques.”
The homes are built with fire-resistant cement-containing panels, and factory-built modular housing can be produced at scale. However, with FEMA facing an existential crisis, funding for temporary housing could be in jeopardy, leaving cities and states on the hook.
Read the full story: In Lahaina, ‘Dignified’ Havens for Wildfire Survivors
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