Posted on 09/16/2005 11:00:33 PM PDT by BigFinn
On the dusty grounds of Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant in Texarkana, Tex., the recreational vehicles and mobile homes are arriving at a rate of 100 a day before being shipped out to the fringes of Hurricane Katrina's disaster zone.
Those trailers, among 300,000 to be purchased with nearly $5 billion of federal money, have become a focal point of criticism of the Bush administration's early rebuilding efforts. Some conservatives blanch at the cost. And many critics fret that mobile homes will hardly protect their residents from the next storm.
But most of all, housing experts -- conservatives and liberals alike -- worry that Federal Emergency Management Agency encampments will quickly become what former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called "ghettos of despair." Rental vouchers in a market with plenty of available housing would be cheaper and faster and provide better accommodations, they say.
"Three hundred thousand manufactured homes? People are screaming about that," fumed Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). "I tell you, FEMA is a disaster."
When Katrina struck, FEMA did what it has always done in the wake of a major hurricane: turned to its standing list of contractors, including several mobile home manufacturers. Within days, the agency began discussions with the Manufactured Housing Institute, and then purchased 20,000 fully furnished mobile homes and began shipping them to staging areas in Texarkana; Purvis, Miss.; Selma, Ala.; and Baton Rouge, La.
State government then began scouring parks, government land and private sites to establish communities of evacuees. Just as quickly, housing experts of all political stripes began to howl in protest.
"If they simply put poor people in mobile homes, they would be re-creating the same troubled neighborhoods that were destroyed," said Susan J. Popkin, a housing expert at the Urban Institute. "And we know how to do this better."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Maybe not, but it does have an effect on their dental health somehow.
"I think the trailers are a start, if they want more it's up to them. Other people have lost homes in disasters, I don't recall us buying them trailers or anything else..."
Hell, it was good enough for the folks in Florida after Charley last year. Some are still living in them while there homes are being rebuilt. I guess if your poor from NO it's not good enough? I'm sick of this BS!
Those poor folks in MS would LOVE to have a temporary mobile home right now. Beats the the back seat of your car, if you still have one.
It worked for Jim Rockford.
Just keep the wheels on them...
Sure they'll be killing each other in these ghettos-to-go, but that's what they were doing in the government's Projects, so they'll feel right at home with the sound of gunfire at night.
Just what I need to see...."spinners" on a mobile home. I did see them on an 18 wheeler.
Exactly. And that's the problem with setting up evacuee trailer parks, and the problem with our national approach to public housing projects in general.
Poverty is largely in individial issue, but it has a critical mass -- pile enough poor people together, and it becomes harder for those striving for a better life to succeed. An ambitious kid trying to make a buck mowing lawns can't do it if there isn't a lawn for a mile in any direction.
The old model of public housing is this. Create an artificial community without any services other than those provided by the government -- no restaurants, shops, or jobs. Stick a bunch of desperate people in a neighborhood where all they see is other deperate people, where there aren't any cops or nurses or architects living down the street, where success is defined as getting out and the only role models kids see who have any initiative are the pimps and dealers.
The government doesn't create jobs, but it can create -- and has often created -- an environment in which it's nearly impossible for the businesses that create jobs to take root.
The article rightly points out that both conservative and liberal experts are leery of the trailer plan, and that reflects a similar consensus that has emerged on old-style housing projects. They were fine during the New Deal era, when the priority was to get people into any kind of decent housing, but there are better approaches.
Rather than try to build taxpayer-funded Potemkin villages, help people move into real neighborhoods, get jobs and get (back) on their feet. Whether you approach the issue from the liberal approach of giving poor people stuff or the conservative approach of encouraging them to stand on their own two feet, the old-model housing projects fail at both.
If the trailers are going to house people for a few weeks or months, fine. They're better than the Astrodome. But they must be treated as a way station, not a destination.
Nah. "Car-ville", and drag a hundred dollar bill through it for an opening ceremony (I still think you'd get the DNC).
Is it a public or privately owned company? Do you know the symbol? Thanks.
Sad but true.
Just throw a few old car tires on the roof, and don't worry........
People are simply stuck on the stereotypes. The storm affected everyone in the area regardless of their race or socioeconomic standing. Those who are rebuilding have to have a place to live too. It's going to take some time simply because of the sheer volume of affected people. How many cities were basically wiped out?
I wish I was a carpenter and a contractor right now. Dang can you imagine the job security for the next few years?
I've had the same thought, CajunConservative...Good time to be a contractor free to go to the Gulf Coast...
I am going to do some more volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity. They are rehabbing a lot of the older homes around here so that they can be used for permanent housing. A local church is converting their older educational building into apartments to help several families. This is happening all over in order to provide permanent affordable housing for those who want the help to get on their feet.
I don't have the skills to be a contractor but I do know how to use a hammer the right way, not bad for a girl. So I will volunteer my time to the cause. ;)
There may be a million rental units available in the South but how many are furnished and how far distance are they from the damaged areas?
There is nothing wrong with "mobile homes", "manufactured housing", or its equivalent these days. They are really built a whole lot better than they used to be. If you put them down on a permanent foundation and own the land under them, they actually can appreciate in value. Lenders here in Kansas though have a very strict system on which to loan money for re-sale. They can't have been moved twice and they have to be kept in excellent condition. Some folks even put them over a basement. Honestly though the manufacturers have really improved them over the past several years. I myself would prefer a stick built house, but wouldn't look a gift horse (house) in the mouth. Geez Marge, get off your throne!
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