Manufactured Homes Could Be Part of Post-Tornado Solution in Georgia
Manufactured home community (MHC) owner/operators in Georgia are mobilizing support to make manufactured housing part of the post-tornado disaster solution. David Roden and Spencer Roane are leading the charge with GEMA and FEMA officials to have vacant manufactured home community sites used to house storm victims. They outlined a plan that would:
- save the government money,
- help get storm victims out of hotels and into homes,
- create jobs in GA and neighboring states,
- avoids the errors learned from the post-Katrina FEMA response.
Roden said part of the problem with the post-Katrina FEMA response was in not using existing infrastructure. Vacant MHC home sites represent an obvious opportunity to save time and money for state or federal officials. The MHC owners also expressed the wisdom of using 3 bedroom 2 bath homes rather than 3 bedroom one bath floor plans. Local HUD Code home manufacturers could rapidly respond, creating jobs. They say MH community owners could buy the homes when the disaster relief phase passes, making this a complete approach that avoids Katrina missteps. This would also underscore the fact that manufactured housing is a valuable resource for rapid response to disaster housing. Contact David Roden to support this effort.
David Roden, Mountain View Estates, 423-760-4819 or davidroden@yahoo.com
