Long term housing a staggering process

Brock N. Meeks Chief Washington correspondent • Profile • E-mail

WASHINGTON - Long after the chaos and corpses of Katrina fade from the spotlight there will be the quiet desperation of hundreds of thousands of the hurricane’s refugees struggling with the prospect that they may be homeless for years to come.

Estimates of the number left homeless by Katrina range in the tens of thousands or more.  Finding long term shelter for those victims is the biggest single challenge the Federal Emergency Management situation has ever undertaken, an agency spokesman told MSNBC.com. 

The staggering numbers of homeless surpass the government’s own “nightmare scenarios,” according to two private sector disaster consultants that have worked with FEMA to prepare for just the sort of devastation wrought by Katrina.  Those consultants spoke on the condition of anonymity because their work for FEMA has not been made public.

And in fact, FEMA last year “war gamed” a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans, according to FEMA Director Mike Brown, speaking on the Larry King Live show Wednesday. "So we planned for it two years ago. Last year, we exercised it. And unfortunately this year, we're implementing it,” Brown said.

“As part of this plan, FEMA is coordinating with other federal, state and local agencies as well as the private sector and voluntary agencies," said Michael Widomski, an agency spokesman. "Everything and anything is on the table,” he said.  “We’re looking at any and all options to try and determine what the best thing to do would be.”

‘Overwhelming’ problem
Jeff Wilson stood shoulder to shoulder with a small army of government and private sector planners last year and stepped into the breach in an effort to design and build long-term temporary shelter for hurricane victims as Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne hammered Florida. And although he’s watching from a distance this time, Wilson shakes his head at what is happening in Katrina’s wake. “The numbers (of displaced people) are overwhelming in themselves,” he said. 

The largest housing facility set up by Wilson last year contained 600 units meant to be occupied for up to 18 months; most of those facilities, which included roads and utilities, contained from 25 to 50 housing units.

“We designed 16 to 20 facilities last year around the state of Florida,” Wilson said, “that effort will pale in comparison to what the response effort will need to be to Hurricane Katrina.”

The U.S. has never had to deal with what is effectively the entire population of a major metropolitan city on the move.  For those that didn’t make it out of the city, the so-called “refugees,” immediate, emergency shelter is a daunting problem. 

“The first plan of action was to house people in significant structures, like the Astrodome and Superdome or that kind of thing and on a smaller scale in school gyms and so forth, predominately because they offer a little more protection and shelter and have the infrastructure in place and have some support facilities,” said Craig Williams, founder and director of Architects without Borders. 

“My hope is that the general population will see fit to open their homes to their neighbors and say we can take in a small family on an interim basis,” Williams said.  “These types of things help strengthen the community; this is an opportunity for them to do that.” 

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