Texans Assisted Months After Hurricane Ike

More than 3,000 Texas individuals and families displaced by Hurricane Ike are now living temporarily in manufactured homes under a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program to provide these units when no other housing option is available.

As of last Saturday, the number of households in FEMA's direct housing program totaled 3,034. That is more than 81 percent of the 3,719 households eligible for manufactured housing along the hard-hit upper Gulf Coast. In the past four days alone, more than 165 families have moved into temporary units.

In most counties requiring direct housing, the mission is even further along than the overall 81 percent. In Chambers County, 100 percent of the households eligible for manufactured housing are occupying units. In Orange County, the mission is 94 percent complete and in Jefferson County it is 88 percent complete.

In Galveston County, the challenge has been especially great because of the extent of the damage and restrictions on where temporary units can be placed because of floodplain and other issues. FEMA is working hard with power companies and local permitting offices to get eligible Galveston families into manufactured housing as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, in order to boost the direct housing effort, two new temporary manufactured home community sites are under construction in the southern Orange County town of Bridge City. FEMA also hopes to break ground soon on at least one temporary community site in Galveston County.

Of the displaced households eligible for some type of FEMA temporary housing assistance, only about 4 percent have been identified as needing manufactured housing, which is considered a last resort when other housing options, such as rental units, are unavailable.